SELECT 

3ptofced)S of all Jiattoug: 

ILLUSTRATED 

WITH NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

I SUMMARY OF ANCIENT PASTIMES, HOLI- 
DAYS, AND CUSTOMS; 



lN ANALYSIS OF THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 
OF THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 



THE WHOLE ARRANGED ON A NEW PLAN. 



" Proverbs existed before books"— D' Israeli. 



By THOMAS FIELDING, 



iLoit&on: 

Gr.; BERGER, HOLYWELL STREET, STRAND 5 

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. {£47 



/£// 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



In making the present Selection of Proverbs, the 
first object has been to glean the wisest and best 
in the Sayings of all Nations ; collecting not 
merely their ethical maxims, but whatever is 
racteristic of national manners, humour, and 
intelligence. 

VVkh respect to arrangement, I have not ex- 
actly followed the plan of any of my predecessors, 
but have endeavoured to combine the double 
advantages of alphabetic order, with facility for 
refering to any particular description of proverbs, 
according to its subject. 

The authors to whom I have chiefly resorted, 
are, Ray'& English Proverbs, Kelly's Scottish 
Proverbs, Mackintosh's Gaelic Proverbs, the 
French and Italian Proverbs of Dubois and Vene- 
roni, Collins's Spanish Proverbs, the Glossary of 
Archdeacon Nares, Grose's Provincial Glossary, 
a 2 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, Todd's John- 
son ; with several minor works, too numerous to 
mention. 

It is necessary to bear in mind, our's is only a 
Selection: to have given the entire proverbs of 
any people, would have far exceeded the limits of 
the present plan, and consequently I have only 
gleaned from each nation what seemed worthy of 
modern taste and refinement. Where a proverb 
appeared curious or important, the original or 
parallel proverb in other languages has been re- 
tained : this can be attended with no inconvenience 
to the English reader, and may be interesting to 
the scholar, and those who wish to be accurately 
acquainted with the spirit and origin of the Old 
Sayings. Besides, there are persons so fastidious 
as to refrain from quoting a proverb in plain Eng- 
lish, who would not scruple to use it in the Latin, 
Italian, French, or Spanish languages. 

To each proverb is added the name of the coun- 
try to which it belongs, when that could be ascer- 
tained; and when no name is affixed, the proverb 
may generally be concluded to be English. But 
there is nothing so uncertain as the derivation of 
proverbs, the same proverb being often found in 
all nations, and it is impossible to assign its pater- 



ADVERTISEMENT. V 

nity. For this, two reasons may be given. Pro- 
verbs are founded on nature ; and as nature and 
man are generally uniform, it is no wonder that 
different people, under similar circumstances, have 
come to similar conclusions. Another reason is, 
their short and portable form, which adapted them 
for communication from one nation to another. 

The exposition of " Ancient Pastimes, Cus- 
toms,'' &c. which forms the second part, was neces- 
sary to elucidate the proverbs: one exhibits the 
mind ; the other, the living manners of the period. 
In this portion of the work, I chiefly relied on 
Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People, 
Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, and 
the voluminous works of Grose. 

" Vulgau Errors" form the third subject, and 
complete the picture of the olden time : these I 
chiefly col!ected from sir Thomas Browne's Inquiry 
into Common and Vulgar Errors, Fovargue's 
Catalogue of Vulgar Errors, and Barrington's 
Observations on the Ancient Statutes. 

At the conclusion is placed, under a different 

arrangement, an " Analysis of the Wisdom of the 

Ancients, and of the Fathers of the Church :" w T e 

have thus the wisdom of the people, derived from 

a 3 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

experience; to contrast with the wisdom of the 
Schools, of Poets, Philosophers, and the Founders 
of the Christian faith. 

In short, we have condensed, in a small com- 
pass, the essence of universal knowledge, natural 
and acquired; and none can make themselves fami- 
liar with what is here put together, without be- 
coming wiser and better. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Proverbs are the book of life, the salt of knowledge, 
and the gatherings of ages. Like pebbles smoothed by 
the flood, they have flowed down the stream of time 
divested of extraneous matter, rounded into harmonious 
couplets, or clenched into useful maxims. Less ornate 
and redundant than the productions of modern litera- 
ture, they are far more instructive : they are the manual 
of practical wisdom compiled from the school of expe- 
rience ; and their precepts, as the actual results of real 
life, circumstance, and occasion, are far preferable to the 
erring deductions of the speculative inquirer. 

From the antiquity of Proverbs, they may be de- 
fined the primitive language of mankind, in which 
knowledge was preserved prior to the invention of letters. 
In the early stages of society, its progress is retarded by 
three causes : the scarcity of words to express ideas ; the 
feebleness of memory, from the absence of intellectual 
exertion ; and the want of a durable character, by which 
the discoveries of one generation may be retained and 
transmitted to another. Proverbs are well adapted for 
removing these first obstacles to improvement : by a 
figurative expression, they supply the place of verbal 
description ; their brevity is an aid to memory ; while, 
by being connected with local circumstances and sur- 
rounding objects, they form a visible type, in which 
passing occurrences and observations may be recorded. 



VI 11 INTRODUCTION. 

Accordingly, we find that all nations have had recourse 
to aphoristic language, and doubtless it was in this style 
the first knowledge of the world, its laws, morals, hus- 
bandry, and observations on the weather, were preserved. 
It would be an error, however, to suppose that popular 
adages comprise only the vulgar philosophy of the people, 
since the highest sources of human intelligence have 
contributed to the great intellectual reservoir. In the 
verses of poets, in the classic historians of Greece and 
Rome, in the sayings of philosophers and great states- 
men, in the responses of oracles, the maxims of the 
Eastern magi and sages, the learning of the Chinese and 
Hindoos, the writings of the Fathers and Schoolmen, 
and those of later date, we often detect the germ of those 
ancient thoughts which now circulate under the humble 
guise of an old sayiug. There is scarcely a celebrated 
name from the days of Hesiod, who has not added to 
the great mass of aphoristic literature. It is a treasure 
constantly accumulating ; as the world grows older, the 
proverbial avalanche augments in bulk, till at length it 
will comprise a brief abstract of the wisdom of all ages, 
from the beginning to the end of time. To describe pro- 
verbs as only the remains of an " ancient philosophy " is 
much too limited ; they are the fruits of all philosophy, 
ancient and modern : what was formerly a bright thought, 
or apposite allusion, consecrated to the learned, becomes, 
in process of time, the common property of the people. 
We thus see the generation of proverbs, and how the 
wisdom of poets and philosophers become the every-day 
wisdom of the populace, divested only of the redundancy 
of the original. Our own age will, doubtless, contribute 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

to the general stock, leaving behind an aphoristic de- 
posit, characteristic of the manners and genius of the 
times, and requiring the aid of future parcemiographers 
to collect and elucidate. 

In this view of the subject, proverbial literature be- 
comes a most interesting subject of inquiry, not only 
Som the antiquity of its origin, but as the ground-work 
^i human knowledge, and the great storehouse of facts 
arid experience, With the exception, however, of Mr. 
DTsraeli, scarcely a writer of celebrity has deemed the 
philosophy of proverbs worthy of investigation. Men 
of letters have been more intent on cultivating the barren 
field of " points and particles" — of words and sounds — 
the mere instruments of thought ; while the thoughts 
themselves, clothed in the most ancient costume, have 
been comparatively neglected. I will endeavour, in 
some degree, to supply the omission. 

The first point of view in which the Old Sayings are 
interesting, is from the light they throw on the history 
of nations. From the proverbs of a people, we may 
learn the chief peculiarities in their moral and physical 
state — not only their " wit, spirit, and intelligence," as 
lord Bacon observes, but their customs, domestic avo- 
cations, and natural scenery. How easy it is, for ex- 
ample, to collect the condition of the ancient Gael from 
their short sayings and apothegms — that they were a 
melancholic people, simple, superstitious — and living 
enveloped in mountains and mist. Scotland is, in like 
manner, embodied in her popular sayings. The Scot- 
tish proverbs exceed those of any nation, in number, 
point, humour, and shrewdness. They are figurative, 



X INTRODUCTION. 

rustic, and predatory ; often gross and indelicate in their 
allusions to diet and domestic habits, yet they strongly 
indicate the local peculiarities of the country, and the 
thrift and keenness for which the inhabitants have been 
celebrated. The proverbs of Italy are of an opposite 
character. They are literal, more of the nature of 
maxims, and scarcely come under the denomination of 
proverbs ; by which is generally understood, the wisdom 
of the common people, as exemplified in their daily 
employments and local circumstances. 

The Spanish proverbs are celebrated for their pith and 
humour, but they are more characteristic of the age of 
Cervantes and Gil Blas than of the modern Spaniards. 
They are replete with humour and good-nature — and, 
like those of Italy, teem with jokes on the " fat monks," 
— with a sprinkling of satire on kings and governments, 
of which, formerly, the Spaniards entertained a lively 
jealousy. 

England contains a rich mine of proverbial lore, in 
which we may trace the genius of the people. We are 
a mixed race, and our character partakes of the com- 
pound nature of our descent — its excellence consisting 
not in one predominant quality, but in the union of 
several. We have not the rich humour and glowing 
imagination of the Spaniards, the insidious refinements 
of the Italians, the selfish prudence of the Scotch, nor 
the delicacy and gaiety of the French ; but we have a 
sprinkling of all these. What particularly distinguishes 
our proverbs, is their sterling good sense ; which itself 
is a constellation of moral and intellectual excellence. 
There is too in them abundant wit and pleasantry, but 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

their chief value is as a Manual of Life — the art of living 
wisely, happily, and prosperously. In this, I think them 
unrivalled. One thing is to be remarked of them — 
namely, that they are truly the mother wit of the coun- 
try : all our collections of Old Sayings are comparatively 
of ancient date; they are the sayings of the people 
before they had received any polish from education or 
book-learning, and of course are of native growth. The 
same cannot be said of the French and Italian, nor, I 
believe, of any European nation. Between the French 
and English proverbs there is great resemblance in spirit 
and idiom — not, however, without those characteristic 
differences which always discriminate the two nations — 
John Bull delivering himself in his broad substantial 
humour — and Monsieur in more delicate phraseology. 
The following parallel illustrates this distinction : 

John Bull. — One shoulder of mutton draws down another. 
Monsieur. — L'appetit vient en mangeant. 

The Germans are not remarkable for their proverbs ; 
probably from an aversion to the aphoristic style : they 
have, doubtless, their proverbial phrases, like all other 
countries, but I have not seen any regular collection of 
them. The Russians have a few, some of which have 
found their way into Ray's Collection. In the aphorisms 
of the East, with the exception of a few Arabic maxims, 
which have merit, there are no traces of superior intel- 
lect or observation. Like the inhabitants of warm cli- 
mates, generally, they are effeminate and pointless ; con- 
sisting chiefly of moral precepts, drawn rather from the 
imagination than real life and human nature. 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

Another feature in the ancient constitution of society 
may be traced in popular adages, in the few allusions 
to government. The people were formerly of much less 
political importance than at present, and matters of 
state were remote from their condition and attainments. 
Mr. D' Israeli, indeed, fancies he can detect a little 
" Whiggism " in the Spanish proverbs, but I must con- 
fess I have met with few of that description : those 
which have any allusion to public affairs, relate chiefly 
to the tyranny of the Inquisition, the oppression of eccle- 
siastics, and the corrupt administration of justice. The 
proverbs of Italy are of a different tendency ; but these, 
as before remarked, are more the proverbs of courtiers, 
than of the people, and contain profound observations on 
legislation and jurisprudence. But in the familiar say- 
ings of no nation is there any glimpse of those principles 
of government and popular rights, the developement of 
which, last century, convulsed Europe. 

We are amply compensated for this desideratum by 
the light thrown on ancient manners and acquirements. 
Proverbs formed the encyclopedia of former times, 
comprising all the existing observations on human 
nature, natural phenomena, and local history. Men 
acquired wisdom, not from books, but oral communica- 
tions. All the apparatus of the modern system of edu- 
cation — Horn-books, Reading Made Easys, and Plea- 
sing Instructors, were unknown. Children did not 
learn their alphabet, nor their catechism ; but an adult 
system prevailed, in which grown persons were taught 
the arts of life — the mysteries of good housekeeping, of 
economy, longevity, husbandry, and meteorology, in 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

some traditionary maxim, handed down from generation 
to generation, time out of mind. 

The effect seems to have been much the same as 
under the modern system of instruction ; and human 
conduct, influenced by similar motives, exhibited similar 
peculiarities. There are, indeed, certain truths con- 
stantly operating in the world, as unchangeable as the 
principles of nature. Time and space have no effect 
upon them. They are alike palpable in all ages — are 
the same now, as they were at the beginning, and will 
be unto the end of time. These universal and intuitive 
perceptions are comprised in the Proverbs of Nations, 
which we find, among every people, to inculcate similar 
notions of justice, the moral duties, of love and friend- 
ship. The progress of knowledge, local situation, and 
institutions, may refine and modify them; but, substan- 
tially they are the same truths, — whether circulated in 
familiar aphorisms among the people, or delivered from 
the university chair, disguised in the subtleties of a 
Hume or Reid, or the more popular disquisitions of 
a Paley, Johnson, or Addison. 

fey the operation of some absurd impression, proverbs 
have for a long time been kept in the back ground in 
fashionable society. Lord Chesterfield said, " a man of 
fashion has never recourse to proverbs and vulgar 
aphorisms ;" and they appear to have " withered away 
under the ban of his anathema." But it is yielding too 
much to a name, to proscribe the most valuable intel- 
lectual treasure that has been transmitted by former 
ages to the dictum of a courtier. Men of fashion, in 
the days of Elizabeth, James, and Charles, had recourse 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

to proverbs and aphorisms ; and in the splendid court of 
Louis XIV. the illustration of popular adages formed 
the subject of dramatic entertainments. So far, then, 
as fashion can confer authority, we are justified, from 
the example of these periods, in their use : but it may 
be demonstrated, that no other species of knowledge has 
such a momentous influence on the affairs of life — on 
the conduct of individuals and the history of nations. 
I will cite a few examples, for the purpose of illustration, 
of proverbs that have been the most influential- in 
society, and which are constantly at work either for 
great good or evil. 

" What the eyes see not, the heart feels not !" 

How many men, and women too, have been deter- 
mined in a guilty course, from this single sentence! 
Again, there is another saying, which has contributed 
not a little to people the world, and is a far more for- 
midable antagonist of the doctrines of Malthus, than 
either Cobbett or Godwin : 

" God never sends mouths without meat!" 

It has been the misfortune of many to find the con- 
trary of this; but it still forms a cardinal point in the 
creed of the labouring classes; and I am sure it has 
been my fate, many hundied times, to hear it repeated 
by fruitful dames — and laugh at its absurdity. . 

Mortui non mordent. 
" Dead men do not bite." 

This fatal truth has sealed the doom of many an un- 
happy wretch, by determining the last resolve of the 
traitor, burglar and assassin. We cannot look into the 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

annals of crime, or the page of history, without meeting 
with examples of the deadly application of this proverb. 
It was applied by Stewart, against the earl of Morton in 
Scotland, and subsequently to the earl of Strafford and 
archbishop Laud, in England ; and I am pretty sure, 
from some faint impressions left in the course of read- 
ing, I could, by an historical research, multiply these 
instances a hundred fold. 

" Ding down the nests, and the rooks -will flee away," 

is a Scottish historical proverb, which gave an edge to 
the furor of the Covenanters and Cameronians, to the 
destruction of the architectural grandeur of the Romish 
church ; and made Johnson lament, over many ruined 
colleges and cathedrals, the Vandal rage of fanaticism at 
the Reformation. I will only cite another instance, and 
it is a recent one, still fresh in the memory of many of us. 

Tunc tua res agitur paries, cum proximus ardet ! 
" When thy neighbour's house is on fire, beware of thine own I" 

This is a proverb of great antiquity ; it is in both Ray 
and Kelly's Collections, and was forcibly applied at the 
commencement of the great political drama of modern 
history. The apprehension of danger from the example 
of France extending to neighbouring states, was a prin- 
cipal pretext for the war of 1793; and the above pre- 
cautionary maxim was incessantly repeated by the par- 
tizans of hostilities. A. parallel, and more recent case, 
occurs in the late flagitious invasion of Spain by the 
French, which was undertaken on the alleged ground of 
guarding against the neighbouring contagion — not of 
French, but Spanish democracy ! 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

I could cite more instances ; but must refer the reader 
to the Proverbs themselves, where he will find abundant 
examples of the application of popular sayings on im- 
portant occasions. 

It is supposed that there are 20,000 proverbs circulating 
among the nations of Europe, many of them borrowed 
from the ancients, chiefly Greek, who themselves took 
them largely from the Eastern nations — and how prodi- 
gious must be the effect of this collective wisdom of ages 
on the public mind, daily and hourly operating, and 
divided into so many thousand popular maxims, in- 
fluencing the conduct of individuals, of all ranks, on 
every occasion in the affairs of life ! It would be a 
puerile feeling, indeed, to affect to despise this intellectual 
treasure, or consider its history unworthy of investiga- 
tion. Shall we overlook the most precious legacy of 
former times, stamped with the approval of ages — when 
the most trifling mutilated fragment of ancient sculpture, 
or literature, is sought after with avidity, and extolled to 
the skies? When we are endeavouring to revive the 
almost forgotten beauties of the elder writers, shall we 
neglect their most precious remains — the elite of their 
wit, choice sayings, and acquaintance with life ? I think 
it is impossible. But we need not resort to adventitious 
reasoning to establish our argument. I appeal to the 
little volume now submitted to the public, for proof of 
the importance and utility of proverbial knowledge. 
It is impossible, I think, to read the sections on Virtue, 
Economy, Love, and Public Affairs, without being con- 
vinced that, at least, three-fourths of the practically ope- 
rating knowledge in the world consists of proverbs ; and 



INTRODUCTION. XV11 

that it is not books, but the Old Sayings, which regu- 
late human conduct. I can bear testimony of their 
value, from experience — from the benefit I have derived, 
while collecting the materials of this work — and I freely 
confess, that many things which I had incautiously 
treasured up, as the original thoughts of other writers, I 
have since discovered to be only old truths, expanded 
from some forgotten adage ! 

" I am of opinion, Sancho," says the renowned knight 
of La Mancha, u that there is no proverb which is not 
true, because they are all sentences drawn from expe- 
rience itself, the mother of all the sciences." Lavater, 
in his aphorisms, says, that " the proverbial wisdom of 
the populace in the streets, on the roads, and in the 
markets, instructs the ear of him who studies man, more 
fully than a thousand rules ostentatiously displayed." 

Another distinguished writer of the present day elo- 
quently observes, on the same subject : " Proverbs em- 
brace the wide sphere of human existence, they take all 
the colours of life, they are often exquisite strokes of 
genius, they delight by their airy sarcasm or their cautic 
satire, the luxuriance of their humour, the playfulness of 
their turn, and even by the elegance of their imagery, 
and the tenderness of their sentiment. They give a 
deep insight into domestic life, and open for us the heart 
of man, in all the various states he may occupy — a fre- 
quent review of Proverbs should enter into our read- 
ings; and although they are no longer the ornaments of 
conversation, they have not ceased to be the treasures of 
thought !" — Curiosities of Literature, 2nd Series 9 
p. 240. 



XV111 INTRODUCTION. 

Were there no other learning than that comprised 
in proverbs, it may be doubted whether it would not be 
adequate to the chief business of life. It is only in those 
branches of knowledge, connected with the arts and 
natural philosophy, that the ancient lore is deficient; 
but in every thing that relates to the great science of 
human nature, it is commensurate with our necessities 
and occasions. In making it the basis of our studies, 
there is a great economy of time and labour ; for it puts 
us in possession of useful truths, without either enslaving 
us to systems, or perplexing us with abstruse and unpro- 
fitable inquiries. 

With respect to the present volume, as no merit is 
claimed in its contents, further than the arrangement of 
the materials and their occasional illustration, I will ven- 
ture to say, that few can be found in modern literature, 
comprising an equal fund of amusement and instruction. 
It is not, however, a volume, small as it is, that we ought 
to take up and peruse at a sitting ; but one to which we 
may occasionally resort — and never, I believe, without 
profit — without finding something to amuse or instruct 
— a flash of wit, a stroke of humour, or an useful precept 
to guide and adorn life. 



SELECT 

PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS. 

+ 

COMMON THINGS. 

A. 

A blithe heart makes a blooming visage. — Scotch, 
A burden which one chooses is not felt. 
Accusing is proving, where malice and power sit judges. 
A crowd is not company. 

A thousand probabilities do not make one truth. 
A blow from a frying pan, though it does not hurt, it sul- 
lies. — Spanish. 

A calumny, though known to be such, generally leaves a stain 
on the reputation. 

Advice to all, security for none. 

A cut-purse is a sure trade, for he has ready money when 

his work is done. 
A deed done has an end. — Italian. 

This is one instance, among many in Italian history, of the 
great influence of proverbs in the affairs of that people. The 
two families of the Amadei and the Uberti, from a dread of 
the consequences, long suspended the revenge they meditated 
on the younger Buondelmonte, for the affront he had put 
upon them in breaking off his match with a young lady of 
their family, and marrying another. At length, Moscha 
Lamberti, suddenly rising, exclaimed, in two proverbs, that 
** Those who considered every thing, would never conclude 
on any thing !" closing with the proverbial saying— cosafatta 
capo ha! "a deed done has an end !" This sealed the fatal 
determination, and was long held in mournful remembrance 
by the Tuscans, as the cause and beginning of the bloody 
factions of the Guelphs and the Ghibellins. Dante has im- 
mortalized the energetic expression in a scene of the Inferno : 

Then one, 

Maim'd of each hand, uplifted in the gloom 
The bleeding stumps, that they, with gory spots, 
Sullied his face, and cried — " Remember thee 
Of Moscha too — I who, alas! exclaim'd, 
* The deed once done, there is an end' — that prov'd 
A seed of sorrow to the Tuscan race." 



2 SELECT PROVERBS 

Milton, too, adopted this celebrated Italian proverb : when 
deeply engaged in writing " The Defence of the People," and 
warned that it might terminate in his blindness, he resolutely 
concluded his work, exclaiming, although the fatal prognos- 
tication had been accomplished, Cosa fatta capo ha /* 

A guilty conscience needs no accuser. 
All truths must not to be told at all times. 
Adversity makes a man wise, not rich. 

French. — Vent au visage rend un homme sage. 
Latin. — Vexatio dat intellectum. 

A drowning man will catch at a straw. 

Affairs, like salt fish, ought to be a good while a soaking. 

After having cried up their wine, they sell us vinegar. 

Spanish. — Haviendo pregonado vino venden vinagre. 
A fog cannot be dispelled with a fan. — Japanese. 

An instance this, how popular sayings are derived from local 
objects, or from allusions to peculiar customs. The coast of 
Japan is subject to fogs, and both sexes from the age of five 
years carry fans. 

An honest man has half as much more brains as he needs ; 

a knave hath not half enough. 
A friar who asks alms for God's sake, begs for two. — Spanish. 
A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his throat. 
A friend in court is worth a penny in the purse. 
A friend to every body is a friend to nobody. — Spanish. 
A friend, as far as conscience allows. 

French. — Ami jusqu' aux autels. 
A great city, a great solitude. 
A hand-saw is a good thing, but not to shave with. 
After-wit is every body's wit. 

French. — Toutle monde est sage apres coup. 
A good tale ill told is marred in the telling. 
A good servant makes a good master. — Italian. 

* Vide Curiosities of Literature, 2nd Series. 



OF ALL NATIONS. O 

A grand eloquence, little conscience. 
Italian. — Di grand 'eloquenza pieciola coscienza. 
This proverb may be true in the degraded soil of Italy, but the 

names of a Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, and Erskine, render 

its application doubtful in England. 

A good name is better than riches. 

A glass of water is sometimes worth a ton of wine, and a 

penny a pound. — Italian. 
A gude word is as soon said as an ill one. — Scotch. 
Alexander was below a man when he affected to be a god. 
A man is a man, though he have but a hose upon his head. 
A good shape is in the shear's mouth. — Scotch* 
A good key is necessary to enter into Paradise. — Italian. 
All are not thieves that dogs bark at. 
All blood is alike ancient. 
A merchant's happiness hangs upon chance, winds, and 

waves. 
A good pay-master is lord of another man's purse. — Italian. 
A good companion makes good company. — Spanish. 
A gude tale is na the waur to be twice told. — Scotch. 
A gift long waited for is sold, not given. 

Italian. — Dono molto aspetatto, e venduto, non donatto. 
A little wit will serve a fortunate man. 
A hundred tailors, a hundred millers, and a hundred weavers, 

are three hundred thieves. — Spanish. 

A handsome hostess is bad for the purse. 

Spanish.— Huespeda hermosa mal para la bolsa. 

When the mistress o fan inn possesses a handsome person and. 
fascinating manners, she captivates her guests ; who submit 
to charges they would not allow in a hostess of inferior at- 
tractions. The pastry-cooks and other dealers in the metro- 
polis are well aware how potent beauty is in promoting the 
trade and commerce of the kingdom ! 

A handful of common sense is worth a bushel of learning. — 

Spanish. 
A mad bull is not to be tied up with packthread. 
A mad parish must have a mad priest. 
b 2 



4 SELECT PROVERBS 

A grave and majestic outside is, as it were, the palace of the 
soul. 

A favourite proverb of the Chinese, which Mr. D'lsraeli thinks 
characteristic of the genius of the people, who are fond of 
magnificent buildings. The same writer remarks, that their 
notions of government are ** quite architectural. ' ■ They say, 
•• a sovereign may be compared to a hall; his officers to the 
steps that lead to it ; the people to the ground on which it 
stands." 

A man in distress or despair does as much as ten. 

All men are not men. — Italian. 

A man may say even his prayers out of time. 

A man is little the better for liking himself, if nobody else 

like him. 
Apelles was not a master painter the first day. 
A man may be strong, and yet not mow well. 
An inch on a man's nose is much. 
A hasty man never wants woe. — Scotch. 
A kiss of the mouth often touches not the heart. 

Italian. — Bacio di bocca spesso cuor non tocea. 

A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in 

another's. 
A man with his belly full is no great eater.— Spanish. 
A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a fool. 
All is but lip- wisdom that wants experience. 
An emmet may work its heart out, but can never make honey. 

We cannot have figs from thorns, nor grapes from thistles. If 
we would succeed in any business, we must use means adapted 
to the end. 

A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man 

can answer in seven years. 
A proud eye, an open purse, and a light wife, breeds mischief 

to the first, misery to the second, and horns to the third. 
A man knows no more to any purpose than he practises. 
A place at court is a continual bribe. 
A true reformation must begin at the upper end. 
Windham used to say, " it was the lower end that was most 
corrupt, and reformation ought to begin there." We cannot 
decide. 



OF ALL NATIONS. O 

A plaister is a small amends for a broken head. 

A stumble may prevent a fall. 

A tragical plot may produce a comical conclusion. 

A little pot is soon hot. 

Little persons are commonly choleric. 

All's well that ends well. 

All fellows at foot ball. 

That is, there is no distinction of rank when parties mingle 
promiscuously in vulgar sports. A truth which any one may 
verify by a visit to the cock-pit at Westminster. 

A. liar should have a good memory. 

All are not saints that go to the church. — Italian. 

All is not gold that glitters. 

Italian. — Non e oro tutto quel che luce. 
Although we are negroes we are men. 

Spanish — Aunque negros, somos gente. 

Almost, and very nigh, saves many a lie. 

A miss is as good as a mile. 

A man of gladness seldom falls into madness. 

It is not the gay, cheerful, and light-hearted that fall into mad- 
ness, but mostly those of strong and fixed passions. It is by- 
dwelling too much on one idea, that insanity, when not con- 
stitutional, is produced. Broodingtoo long over an imaginary 
insult or disappointed affection, the mind forms exaggerated 
conception of the injury it has sustained, and hence forms 
conclusions inconsistent with the common sense of mankind — 
which is madness. The melancholic, the proud, and the am- 
bitious, are most liable to this dreadful calamity. Travel, 
society, books, any thing which diverts the mind from the 
demon which haunts it, before it has obtained too strong hold 
of the imagination, are the best preventives. 

A soldier, fire, and water, soon make room for themselves. — 

Italian. 
A man may live upon little, but he cannot live upon nothing 

at all. — Gaelic. 
A man knows his companion in a long journey and a small 
-inn.— Spanish. 

A man must not spoil the pheasant's tail. — Italian. 
A fool^always comes short of his reckoning. 



6 SELECT PROVERBS 

The half is better than the whole. 

A Greek proverb, recommending a person to take half rather 
than risk the expense and uncertainty of a lawsuit to obtain 
the whole. 

A merry companion on the road is as good as a nag. 

A man must plough with such oxen as he has. 

A mon is weel o wae as he thinks himself sae. — Scotch. 

A mischievous cur must be tied short — French. . 

A man is a lion in his ain cause. — Scotch. 

"We had some proof of this in the conduct of the Reformers, 
who in the late years defended their " ain cause." There is, 
indeed, nothing like a man having a " stake in the hedge." 
Give a good servant a share in the firm, and he is zealous for 
his employer ; or a citizen his political rights, and he fights 
valiantly for the commonwealth. There could be no patriotism 
among the vassals of the feudal system ; they had neither- 
property nor justice ; it was nothing to them who were the 
rulers of the earth, and they might exclaim, in the words of 
the Spanish proverb, " Where can the ox go that he must not 
plough," 

Ask a kite for a feather, and she'll say she has but just 

enough to fly with. 
An ill plea should be weel pled. — Scotch. 
A man may buy gold too dear. 
An old naught will never be aught. 
An old knave is no babe. 

An old man hath the almanack in his body. — Italian. 
An ass covered with gold is more respected than a horse 

with a pack-saddle. — Spanish. 
A new broom sweeps clean. 
An ill workman quarrels with his tools. 
A proud heart in a poor breast, he's meikle dolour to drain. 

— Scotch. 
Apothecaries would not give pills in sugar unless they were 

bitter. 
A pleasure is well paid for which is long expected. — Italian. 
A rolling stone gathers no moss. 
A runaway monk never praises his convent. — Italian. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 7 

A salmon from the pool, a wand from the wood, and a deer 
from the hills, are thefts which no man was ever ashamed 
to own. — Gaelic. 

The idea seems very ancient, that an exclusive right to game 
and other ferce natures does not rest on the same basis as 
other property. Mankind will not be easily convinced, that 
stealing a hare or a partridg ■ is as bad as* stealing a man's 
purse. While this continues the popular feeling, it is in vain 
to multiply acts for the preservation of game. Laws, to be 
efficacious*, should be in accordance with public opinion ; if 
not, they only disturb the peace of society, excite ill blood and 
contention, and multiply crimes and offe'nees instead of dimi- 
nishing them. 

A stroke at every tree, but without felling any. — Gaelic. 
As the man said to him on the tree top, " Make no more 

haste when you come down than when you went up/' 
As good be out of the world as out of the fashion. 
Ask enough, and you may lower the price as you list. — 

Spanish. 

According to that in Latin : " Oportet iniquum petas ut aequum 
ferat," you must ask what is unjust to obtain what is just. 
We presume it is on this principle the Universal-Suffrage men 
frame their demands. They do not mean to have all they ask, 
but ask a great deal with the view of bating a little. 

A sorrowing bairn was never fat. — Scotch. 

A swine fatted hath eat its own bane. 

A whetstone can't itself cut, yet it makes tools cut. 

As ye mak' your bed, sae you maun ly down. — Scotch. 

A wonder lasts but nine days, and then the puppy's eyes are 
open. 

A true friend should be like a privy, open in necessity. — 

Scotch. 

A wild goose never laid a tame egg. — Irish. 

A wilful man should be very wise. — Scotch. 

A white glove often conceals a dirty hand. — Italian. 

A word before is worth two behind. — Scotch. 

A word and a stone thrown away do not return. — Spanish. 

A word is enough to the wise. 



8 SELECT PROVERBS 

B. 

Before you make a friend, eat a peck of salt with him.— 

Scotch, 
Beggars must not be choosers. 

Spanish. — A quien dan no escoge. 

Bells call others to church, but enter not in themselves. 
Better the ill known, than the gude unknown. — Scotch. 
Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the 
gentry. 

Men love priority and precedence, had rather govern than be 
ruled, command than obey, though in an interior rank and 
quality. Julius Ceesar and John Wesley were agreed on this 
point : it is better to rule in Hell, than to serve in Heaven— to 
be the first man in a village, than the second man in Rome. 

Better come at the latter end of a feast than the beginning. 

of a fray. 
Better keep the de'el out than turn him out. — Scotch. 

It is easier to keep out a bad inmate than to get rid of him after 
he has been once admitted. It is also used in another sense, 
implying that it is better to resist cur passions at first than 
after indulgence. 

Better late than never. 
Italian. — E meglio tarde che mai. 

Better one's house too little one day, than too big all the 
year. 

That is, it is better our house should be too small for one great 
entertainment, than too large all the rest of the year. It is 
applied to those jolly souls, who, for the sake of one good 
" blow out," abridge the comforts of the remaining twelve 
months. 

Better bend than break. 

Better a little fire that warms, nor a meikle that burns. — 

Scotch. 
Better late thrive, as never do well. — Scotch. 
Beware of vinegar made of sweet wine. — Italian. 

Provoke not the rage of a patient man. 
Bold and shameless men are masters of the world. 
Be a friend to yourself and others will. — Scotch. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 9 

Better go about than fall into the ditch — Spanish. 

Be the same thing that ye wad be ca'd. — Scotch. 

Be patient, and you shall have patient children. 

Better an empty house than an ill tenant. — Scotch. 

Be not a baker if your head be of butter. — Spanish. 

That is, choose a calling adapted to your inclination and natural 
abilities. 

Better to be alone than in bad company. — Gaelic. 
Between two stools the breech comes to the ground. 

French. — Assis entre deux selles le cul a terre. 
Better pass a danger once than be always in fear. — Italian. 
Better ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that 

throws me. — Spanish. 
Biting and scratching got the cat with kitten. 
Birds of a feather flock together. 

Blaw the wind never so fast, it will lower at last. — Scotch. 
Building is a sweet impoverishing. 
Our forefathers seemed to consider building a very unprofitable 
speculation. They had many proverbs to the same effect : 
He who buys a house ready wrought, 
Has many a pin and nail for nought. 
The French too say, " A house ready made, and a wife to make." 
The times have altered, if one may judge from the present rage 
for building in the vicinity of London, and in the country. 

Buy at a market, but sell at home. — Spanish. 

Beware of enemies reconciled, and meat twice boiled.— 

Spanish. 
Beware of a silent dog and still water. 

C. 

Children dead, and friends afar, farewell. 

Child's pig, but father's bacon. 

Alluding to the promises which parents sometimes make to their 
children, and which they fail to perform. 

Charity begins at home. 
Children and fools speak the truth. 
French.— Enfans et fous sont devins. 



10 SELECT PROVERBS 

Changing of words is lighting of hearts. 
Claw me, and I'll claw you. — Scotch 
Commend me, and I'll commend you. 

Consider well, who you are, what you do, whence you come, 

and whither you go. 
Custom is the plague of wise men, and the idol of fools. 

The Spaniards say, " A good or bad custom, the rogue wishes 
it to exist." Which shows the influence the knavish part of 
society conceive established usage to have in their prosperity. 

Customs, 

Though they be ne'er so ridiculous, 

Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are follow*d.— Shaksp. 

Church work goes on slowly. 

Can't I be your friend, but I must be your fool too ? 

Call me cousin, but cozen me not. 

Come unca'd, sit unserv'd. — Scotch. 

Consider not pleasures as they come, but go. 

Count not your chickens before they are hatched. 

Count again is na forbidden. — Scotch. 

Counsel is to be given by the wise, the remedy by the rich. 

Credit lost is like a Venice glass broken. 

Crosses are ladders leading to heaven. 

D. 

Daughters and dead fish are nae keeping ware. — Scotch. 
Day and night, sun and moon, air and light, every one must 

have, and none can buy. 
Deaf men go away with the injury. 
Dead men do not bite. — Scotch. 
Death is deaf, and hears no denial. 
Deeds are males, and words are but females. 

Italian. — I fatti souu maschi, le parole femine. 
Ding down the nests, and the rooks will flee away. — Scotch. 

This proverb was ruthlessly applied in Scotland at the Reforma- 
tion, to the destruction of many noble cathedrals and colle- 
giate churches. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 11 

Diseases are the interest of pleasures. 

Do as the maids do, say no, and take it. 

Do on the hill as you would in the hall. 

Do what you ought, and come what will. 

Do not make me kiss, and you will not make me sin. 

Do not say you cannot be worse. 

Dogs bark as they are bred. 

Do not spur a free horse. 

E. 

Eagles fly alone, but sheep flock together. 

Eggs of an hour, fish of ten, bread of a day, wine of a year, 

a woman of fifteen, and a friend of thirty. 
Either a man or a mouse. 

Latin. — Aut Caesar, aut nihil. 
Empty vessels make the greatest sound. 
Every man is the architect of his own fortune. 

French. — Chacun est artisan de sa fortune. 

Every one's faults are not written in their forehead. 
Every tub must stand upon its own bottom. 
Every thing hath an end, and a pudding has two. 
Every one knows how to find fault. 
Every body's business is nobody's business. 
Every good scholar is not a good schoolmaster. 
Every man wishes the water to his ain mill. — Scotch. 
Every man is best known to himself. 
Every dog has his day, and every man his hour. 
Every man has his hobby horse. 

*' Every one to his trade," quoth the boy to the bishop. 
Eternity has no grey hairs. 
Every thing would live. 

Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king's 
horses. 



12 SELECT PROVERBS 

" Every one to his liking," as the man said when he kissed 

his cow. 
England's the Paradise of women, and hell of horses. 
Ever drunk, ever dry. 

Latin.— Parthi quo plus bibunt eo plus sitiunt. 

Every potter praises his own pot, and more if it be broken. 
Every man kens best where his own shoe pinches.— Scotch. 
Every may be has a may not be. 
Every fool can find faults that a great many wise men can't 

mend. 
Every light is not the sun. 
Every shoe fits not every foot.— Scotch. 
Every one bastes the fat hog, while the lean one burns. 
Every one bows to the bush he gets shelter of. 

F. 

Faint heart never won a fair lady. 

Latin. — Audentes fortuna juvat. 

Fair maidens wear no purses. — Scotch. 

Spoken when young women offer to pay their club in company, 
which the Scots will never allow, nor the English either. 

Fair words and foul play cheat both the young and the old. 

Fair and softly goes far in a day. 

French. — Pas a pas, on va bien loin. 

Fair words break no bone, but foul words many a one. 

False folk should have many witnesses. — Scotch. 

Fair in the cradle, foul in the saddle. 

It is supposed that children the most remarkable for beauty in 
infancy, are the least so when grown up. Does this arise 
from improper indulgence to beautiful children, or do the fea- 
tures and complexion alter? or lastly, do we consider certain 
traits beautiful in childhood, the contrary in maturity 1 

Faint praise is disparagement. 

Far fra court, far fra care. — Scotch. 

Few dare write the true news of their chamber. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 13 



fetters of gold are still fetters, and silken cords pinch. 

O liberty ! thou goddess heav'nly bright ! 
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight, 
Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign. — Addison. 



It is said, the Scottish hero, Sir William Wallace, had always 
the following rhyme in his mouth : 

Dico tibi verum, libertas optima rerum, 
Nunquam servili sub nictu vivito fili. 

Feeling has no fellow. 

Fine feathers make fine birds. 

Feed a pig and you'll have a hog. 

Fie, fie ! horse play is not for gentlemen. 

Fiddlers' fare — meat, drink, and money. — Scotch. 

Fire and water are good servants, but bad masters. 

First come, first served. 

French.*- Qui premier arrive au moulin, premier doit moudre. 
Feather by feather the goose is plucked. 
Forbidden fruit is sweet. 

Italian. — I fiutti prohibiti sono i piu dolci. 

Fortune sometimes favours those whom she afterwards de- 
stroys. — Italian. 
Forbid a fool a thing, and that he'll do. — Scotch. 
Forewarn'd, fore-armed. 
Latin. — Prsemonitus, prsemunitus. 

For my own pleasure, as the man strake his wife. — Scotch. 
For that thou can do thyself rely not on another. 
For the rose the thorn is often plucked. 

Italian. — Per la rosa spesso il spin, se coglie. 
Force without forecast is little worth. — Scotch. 
Foul water will quench fire. 

For one day of joy we have a thousand of ennui. » 
Italian. — Per un di di gioia n'habbiamo mille di nioia. 
Life, in the opinion of most people, is a very melancholy thing, 
and I suppose this is the reason why so many resort to violent 
means to get rid of it, or are wholly careless about the means 
to prolong existence. King relates, in the " Anecdotes of his 
Own Times," that he had put the question to many persons, 

c 



14 SELECT PROVERBS 

Whether they would wish to live their time over again, expe- 
riencing exactly the same good and evil, and that he never 
met with one who replied in the affirmative. A king of 
Arragon said, There were only ibur things in the world worth 
living for— old wine to drink, old wood to burn, old books to 
read, and old friends to converse with. Solomon pronounced 
all these to be vanity — but he was no judge. 

For a flying enemy make a silver bridge. — Spanish. 

An enemy closely pursued may become desperate : despair 
makes even the timid and cowardly courageous ; a rat, with 
no means of escape, will often turn upon its assailants. By 
all means, then, let the vanquished have a free course. 

Fox's broth, which is cold and scalds. — Spanish. 

Said of artful and dissembling persons, who in their behaviour 
appear modest and affable for the purpose of deceiving others. 

Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them. 

French. — Les fous font la f&te et les sages le mangent. 

Kelly says, that this proverb was once repeated to a great man 
in Scotland, upon his giving an entertainment ; when he 
readily answered — Wise men make proverbs, and fools re- 
peat them. 

Fool's haste is no speed. — Scotch. 
Fools have liberty to say what they please. 
Italian. — Li matti hanno bolletta di dir cio che vogliono. 

Fools should not see half-done work. 

Many a fine piece of work, in the unfinished state, looks clumsy 
and awkward, which those who want judgment will be offended 
at. We hope the honourable critics who were lately so severe 
in their strictures on the improvements going on in West- 
minster Hall, had duly weighed the import of this proverb. 
The Italians have a parallel saying — " Non giudicar la nave, 
stando in terra:" Judge not of a ship as she stands on the 
stocks. 

Fools tie knots, and wise men loose them. — Scotch. 
Fools make fashions, and wise men follow them. 
French. — Les fous font les modes, et les sages les suivcnt. 

Fools and obstinate people make lawyers rich. 
Spanish. — Necios y porfiados hacen ricos a los letrados. 

From four things God preserve us ; a painted woman, a 
conceited valet, salt beef without mustard, and a little 
late dinner. — Italian. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 15 

From nothing, nothing can come.-— French,. 

Friendship cannot stand all on one side. 

Frost and falsehood has ay a foul hinder end. — Scotch. 



G. 

Game is cheaper in the market than in the fields. 
True ! but it is not half so sweet. That which is won by labour 
and enterprize is valued far above what is bought with money. 
It is not the game which is prized so much, as the exhila- 
rating exercise the pursuit of it has afforded. 

Gentility without ability is worse than plain beggary. 
Gentility sent to the market will not buy a peck o' meal. — 

Scotch. 
Gentry by blood is bodily gentry. 
Get a name to rise early, and you may lie all day. 
Give a new servant bread and eggs, but after a year bread 

and a cudgel. — Spanish. 
Give ne'er the wolf the wether to keep. — Scotch. 
Give a man luck, and throw him into the sea. 
Give the devil his due. 
Give a child his will, and a whelp his fill, and neither will 

thrive. 
Give a dog an ill name and he'll soon be hanged. — Scotch. 
Give him but rope enough and he'll hang himself. 
Good counsel has no price. — Italian. 
God deliver me from a man of one book, 

Spanish.— Dios me libre de hombre de un libro. 

That is, from a person who has studied only one subject, and is 
constantly referring to it, to the fatigue of his auditors. 

Go neither to a wedding nor a christening without invita- 
tion. — Spanish. 

Good harvests make men prodigal, bad ones provident. 

Good riding at two anchors, for if one breaks the other 
may hold. 

Good wine needs no bush. 



16 SELECT PROVERBS 

God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks. 

Bacon says, " Cookery spoils wholesome meats, and renders 
unwholesome pleasant. ' * 1 wonder what that renowned knight 
of the spit and dripping pan, Dr. Kitchener, thinks of this. 

Go into the country to hear what news in town. 

God grant that disputes may arise, that I may live. — Spanish. 

A lawyer's prayer for discord amongst his neighbours. 
God send us of our own, when rich men go to dinner. 
Good to begin well, better to end well. 
God defend you from the devil, the eye of a harlot, and the 

turn of a die. — Spanish, 

God makes, and apparel shapes. 

God help the poor, for the rich can help themselves. — 

Scotch. 
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. — French. 
Good enough is never aught. 
God never sends mouths but he sends meat. 

An idle proverb, much in use among the people, who get chil- 
dren, but take no pains to maintain them. 

Gold goes in at any gate except heaven's. 

French. — La clef d' or ouvre toutes sortes de serrures. 
Great barkers are nae biters — Scotch. 
Great pain and little gain makes a man soon weary, 
Gude watch prevents harm — Scotch. 

H 

Happy is he whose friends are born before him. 

Haste makes waste, and waste makes want, and want makes 

strife between the good man and his wife. 
Here's talk of the Turk and of the Pope, but it's my next 

neighbour does me harm. 
He that will not be counselled cannot be helped. 
He has mickle prayer, but little devotion. — Scotch. 
He dances well to whom fortune pipes. — Italian, 
He that hath no money needeth no purse. 



OP ALL NATIONS. 1/ 

He gets a great deal of credit who pays but a small debt. — 

Italian. 
He that leaves certainty, and sticks to chance, when fools 

pipe he may dance. 
He that chastiseth one, amendeth many. 
He that hath an ill name is half hanged. 
He is poor indeed, that can promise nothing. 
He that plants trees, loves others besides himself. 
He that would know what shall be, must consider what hath 

been. 
He who gives blows is a master, he who gives none is a dog. 

A Bengalese proverb, strikingly expressive of the mean and 
degraded state of the people who could use it. It is derived 
from the treatment they used to receive from their Mogul 
rulers, who answered the claims of their creditors by a vigorous 
application of the whip. 

He that is warm, thinks all are so. 

He's dwindled down from a pot to a pipkin. 

He who wants content can't find an easy chair. 

He is a good orator who convinces himself. 

He who loses money, loses much ; he who loses a friend, 

loses more ; but he who loses his spirits, loses all. — 

Spanish. 
He that has no fools, knaves, nor beggars in his family, was 

got by a flash of lightning. 
He who has not bread to spare should not keep a dog. — 

Spanish. 
He hath feathered his nest, he may flee when he likes. — 

Scotch. 

He who depends on another, dines ill and sups worse. 

He sits full still, who has riven breeks. — Scotch. 

Those who are guilty themselves are often a little shy in ex- 
posing the guilt of others. It took its rise from the earl of 
Angus, who, being in an engagement, and wounded, staid till 
all his men were drest, and then told them he was wounded 
himself, by repeating the proverb. 

He knows little of a palace.— -Spanish. 
That is, he is soon put out of countenance, 
c 3 



18 SELECT PROVERBS 

He who rides behind another does not travel when he pleases. 

— Spanish* 
He who peeps through a hole may see what will vex him. 
He that licks honey from thorns pays too dear for it. 
Hand over head, as men took the covenant. — Scotch, 

Alluding to the manner in which the covenant, so famous in 
Scottish history, was violently taken by above sixty thousand 
persons about Edinburgh, in 1638; a novel circumstance at 
that time, though afterwards paralleled by the French iu voting 
by acclamation. 

He who laughs too much has the nature of a fool ; he who 

laughs not at all has the nature of an old cat. 
He came safe from the East Indies, and was drowned in the 

Thames. 
He that cheats me anes, shame fa' him ; if he cheats me 

twice, shame fa' me. — Scotch. 
He who doth his own business, defileth not his fingers. 

Italian. — Qui fa le fatti suoi, non s* embratta le mani. 
He that will steal a pin will steal a better thing. 
He who has but one coat cannot lend it. — Spanish. 
He who commences many things, finishes only a few. — Ttal. 
He has fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire. 
He who despises his own life is master of that of others. 

Italian. — E padrone della vita altrui, chi la sua sprezza. 

-i What shall he fear, who doth not fear death !" — Schiller. 

He that has one sheep in the flock, will like all the rest the 
better of it. — Scotch. 

Spoken when we have a son at a particular school, university, 
or society, and we wish the prosperity of these respective 
bodies on his account. 

He must needs run whom the devil drives. 

He had need rise betimes, that would please every body. 

He had need have a long spoon that sups kail with the de'el. 

— Scotch. 
He loses his thanks who promises and delays. 
He that would hang his dog, first gives out that he is mad. 
He that stays in the valley shall never get over the hill. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 19 

He was scant o* news that tauld his father was hang'd. — 
Scotch. 

He who would have pleasure and pain must begin to scratch 

himself. — Spanish. 
He that invented the maiden first hanselled. it. : — Scotch. 

That is, got the first of it. The maiden, is that well-known 
beheading machine, which gave such a scarecrow aspect to 
the French revolution. The proverb is applied to one who 
falls a victim to his own ingenuity ; the artificer of his own 
destruction. The inventor was James, earl of Morton, who, 
for some vears, governed Scotland, and afterwards suffered by 
his own invention. D' Israeli remarks the singular coinci- 
dence, that the same fate was shared by the French surgeon, 
Guillotine, who revived it — both victims to the anarchy of the 
times. 

He goes not out of his way who goes to a good inn. 
He would fain fly, but wants feathers. 
Hell and chancery are always open. 

He who does not kill hogs will not get black puddings. — 
Spanish. 

It is usual in Spain, when they kill a hog to make black pud- 
dings, to present their neighbours with some. The poor man 
without a hog receives few of these presents. 

He who follows his own advice must take the consequences. — 
Spanish. 

He who serves is not free. 

Spanish. — Quien sirve no es libre. 
He commands enough that obeys a wise man. 
He has more business than English ovens at Christmas. — 
Italian. 

A closer intercourse formerly existed between our country and 
Italy than France. In the reign of Elizabeth and James the 
First, great numbers of Italians travelled here, and were resi- 
dent on commercial concerns ; which accounts for the number 
of Italian proverbs relating to this country. The foregoing 
could only nave arisen from the observation of our domestic 
habits : " Our pie-loving gentry," says D'Israeli, M were noto- 
rious; and Shakspeare's folio was usually laid open in the 
great halls of our nobility to entertain their attendants, who 
devoured at once Shakspeare and their pastry. Some of these 
volumes have come down to us, not only with the stains, but 
enclosing even the identical pie crusts of the Elizabethan 
age!'* 



20 SELECT PROVERBS 

He who sows brambles must not go barefoot. — Spanish. 
He that will not look before him must look behind him. — 
Gaelic. 

He who serves a bad man sows in the market. — Spanish. 
He that seeks trouble, it were a pity he should miss it.— 

Scotch. 
He gives one knock on the hoop, another on the barrel. — 

Italian. 

That is, he speaks now to the purpose, now on matters extra- 
neous. 

He that reckons without his host must reckon again. 

He that cannot pay, let him pray. 

He that would live in peace and rest, must hear and see and 

say the best. 
He gives twice that gives in a trice. 

Latin. — Qui cito dat bis dat. 
He knows best what good is that has endured evil. 
He that lies down with dogs must rise up with fleas. — Italian. 
He that waits for dead men's shoes may go long enough 

barefoot. 
He that makes himself a sheep shall be eaten by the wolves. 
He that will have no trouble in this world must not be born 

in it. 
He is an ill guest that never drinks to his host. 
He that knowa himself best, esteems himself least. 
He that goes borrowing goes a sorrowing. 
He that hath many irons in the fire, some of them will burn. 
He that speaks me fair and loves me not, I'll speak him fair 

and trust him not. 

He that does you an ill turn will never forgive you Scotch. 

He that fears leaves must not come into a wood. 

vie who eats the meat, let him pick the bone. — Spanish. 

Je has found a last to his shoe. — Spanish. 

That is, he has met with his match. 

lie that wad eat the kernel maun crack the nut. — Scotch. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 21 

He that cannot find wherewith to employ himself, let him 

buy a ship or marry a wife. — Spanish. 
He is worth nae weel that can bide nae wae. — Scotch. 
He that ill did, never got believed* 

Latin. — Qui sibi male conscii, alios suspicautur.. 
He who thinks he knows the most knows the least. — Italian. 
He who at twenty does not understand, at thirty does not 

know, and at forty is poor, will have a wretched old age. 

— Spanish. 
He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody. — Scotch. 
He that licks honey from thorns, pays too dear for it. — 

French. 

He who deals with a blockhead has need of much brains. — 

Spanish. 
He who desires to sleep soundly, let him buy the bed of a 

bankrupt. — Spanish. 

Implying that that description of persons have generally soft 
and luxurious couches. 

He who is well and seeks ill, if it comes God help him. — 

Spanish. 
Hide nothing from thy minister, physician, and lawyer. — 

Italian. 

His brains want no barm to make them work. 

Home is home though it bo ever so homely.. 

Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper. 

Hopes delayed hang the heart upon tenter hooks. 

Honour and ease are seldom bedfellows. 

How can the cat help it if the maid be a fool ? 

Said when the maid does not set up things securely out of the 
cat's way. 

Human blood is all of one colour 



If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, let Mahomet go 

to the mountain. — Spanish. 
If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die. 



22 SELECT PROVERBS 

If the bed could speak many would blush. 

If we have not the world's wealth, we have the world's 

ease. — Scotch. 

Spoken of those who live happily in a mean condition. 
If wishes would bide beggars would ride. 

French. — Si souhaits furent vrais pastoreaux seroient rois. 

If things were to be done twice, all would be wise. 

If all fools wore white caps, we should look like a flock of 

geese. 
If wise men play the fool, they do it with a vengeance. 
If you would have a good servant, take neither a kinsman 

nor a friend. 
If a fool have success it ruins him. 

In sleep what difference is there between Solomon and a fool. 
If you want a pretence to whip a dog, it is enough to say he 

eat up the frying-pan. 
If the child cries let the mother hush it, and if it will not be 
hushed she must let it cry. — Spanish. 

Two students, travelling to Salamanca, stopped at an inn, where 
they were annoyed with the crying of a cfiild, and the mother 
scolding and beating it. At their departure they wrote the 
words of the proverb, and gave them to the mother, who was 
their hostess, as a valuable piece of advice. 

If you say what you have seen you will tell what will shame 

you. — Gaelic. 
If it can be nae better it is weel it is nae waur. — Scotch. 
If it were not for home the heart would break. 
If one's name be up he may lie in bed. 
If the sky falls we shall catch larks. — French. 

In ridicule of those who talk of doing many things, if certain 
other things, not likely, were to happen. 

If you cannot bite never shew your teeth. 
Ill weeds grow a pace. 
Ill got, ill spent. 
French. — Acquerir mechamment, depenser sottement. 

If you would wish the dog to follow you, feed him. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 23 

I'll not buy a pig in a poke. 
The French say, Chat en poche. 

If you lie upon rosea when young, you'll lie upon thorns 

when old. 
If you had had fewer friends, and more enemies, you had 

been a better man. 

Our friends are often too indulgent in concealing our failings, 
and leave the valuable office of making us acquainted with 
ourselves, to be performed by our enemies, " A true friend," 
as the proverb says, "should sometimes venture to be a little 
offensive. 

If young men had wit, and old men strength enough, all might 

be well. 
If you would have a thing kept secret, never tell it to any 

one ; and if you would not have a thing known of you, 

never do it. 
I wept when I was born, and every day shows why. 
I like na to mak a toil o' a pleasure. — Scotch. 
I love my friends well, but myself better. 

French. — Plus pres est la chair que la chemise. 

Ill-will never spoke well Scotch. 

Ill doers, ill deemers.— Scotch. 

Ill would the fat sow fare on the primroses of the wood. — ■ 

Gaelic. 
I'm no every man's dog that whistles on me. — Scotch. 
In a calm sea every man is a pilot. 
In a country of blind people, the one-eyed man is a king. — 

Spanish. 

A little wit, among foolish people, will pass a man for a great 
genius. It is applied to those who are tickled with the admi- 
ration of weak and worthy persons. 

In the forehead and the eye, the lecture of the mind doth lie. 
Latin. — Vultus index animi. 

In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. 
In giving and taking it is easy mistaking.— French. 
It's a wise child that knows its own father. — Homers 
Odyssey. 



24 SELECT PROVERBS 

It is more easy to threaten than to kill. — Italian, 

It is a miserable sight to see a poor man proud, and a rich 

man avaricious. — Italian. 
It is too late to complain when the thing is done. — Italian, 
It's time to set when the oven comes to the dough. 

That is, it is time to marry when the maid woos the man. 

It is better to do well than to say well. — Italian, 

It is easy preaching to the fasting with a full belly. — Ital, 

It is good to fear the worst, the best will save itself. 

It's an ill horse that will not carry his own provender. 

It is easy to take a man's part, but the matter is to maintain 

it. — Gaelic, 
It is an ill cause the lawyer thinks shame o\ — Scotch, 
It is not easy to straight in the oak the crook that grew in 

the sapling. — Gaelic, 

It's a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor.-^ Ital, 

It is a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off. 

A noble reproach of those who wish to rob the "illustrious 
dead" of their laurels. 

If the parson be from home, be content with the curate. 
It may be necessary sometimes to hold a candle to the devil. 
It is very hard to share an egg. 

It is good going on foot when a man has a horse in his hand. 
It is not the cowl that makes the friar. — Scotch, 

Latin. — Cucullus non facit monachum. 
It's better to be happy than wise. 

It is not much to give a leg to him who gave you the fowl. — 
Spanish. 

It is dear bought that is bought with prayers. — Italian. 

It is right to put every thing to its proper use. — Gaelic, 

It's good to cry yule (Christmas) at other men's cost. 

It is a long lane that has no turning. 

It is good fishing in troubled waters. 

It's too late to spare when the bottom is bare. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 25 

It's a good horse that never stumbles. 

It's not good to wake a sleeping lion. 

It avails little to the unfortunate to be brave. — Spanish. 

It is hard to live in Rome, and strive against the Pope.— 

Scotch. 
It is ill angling after the net. 
It is a bad action that success cannot justify. 
I love to stand aloof from Jove and his thunderbolts. 
I'll make a shift, as Macwhid did with the preaching. — 

Scotch. 

Macwhid was a knowing countryman, and a great stickler for 
the king and the church. At the Restoration, clergymen 
being scarce, he was asked if he thought he could preach ; he 
answered that he could make a shift ; upon which he was 
ordained, and got a living. 

I myself had been happy, if I had been unfortunate in time. 

It is an ill cause that none dare speak in. — Scotch. 

I cannot sell the cow and have the milk. — Scotch. 

It is an ill battle where the devil carries the colours. 

It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. 

It is not the burden, but the over burden, that kills the beast. 

— Spanish. 
If pride were an art, there would be many teachers. — 

Italian. 
It is ill to bring out of the flesh what is bred in the bone. — 

Scotch. 
It is a good sport that fills the belly. — Scotch. 
It is not an art to play, but it is a very good art to leave off 

play. — Italian. 
It is too much for one good man to want. 
Italy to be born in, France to live in, and Spain to die in. 
I am not sorry that my son loses, but that he will have his 

revenge. — Spanish. 

It is the infatuation of gaming, that losers are always the most 
eager to play on. A wish to recover their lost money, or, as 
it is technically called, " have their revenge," tempts them to 
persevere, till they are involved in ruin and despair. Hence 
the proverb. 



26 SELECT PROVERBS 

I will give you a crown a piece for your lies, if you will let 

me have them all. 
I was well, would be better, took physic, and here I am. 

Written on a man's tomb-stone. 
Joking with hands are jokes of blackguards. 

Spanish. — Brulas de manos, brulas de villanos. 

Intimating that pugilism, and other vulgar amusements, are 
ungentlemanly. 

Just as it falls, quoth the wooer to the maid. — Scotch. 

Kelly gives a ludicrous account of the origin of this saying. 
A courtier went to woo a maid : she was dressing supper with a 
drop at her nose ; she asked him if he would stay all night, he 
answered, Just as it falls : meaning, if the drop fell among the 
meat, he would be off; if it fell by, he would stay. 

Judge not of a ship as she lies on the stocks. 
Italian.^ Non giudicar la nave, stando in terra. 

K. 

Keep yourself from the anger of a great man, from the 
tumult of a mob, from a man of ill fame, from a widow 
that has been thrice married, from a wind that comes in 
at a hole, and from a reconciled enemy. 

Keep your purse and your mouth close. 

Keep no more cats than will catch mice. 

Kindness will creep when it cannot go. — Scotch. 

Kill the lion's whelp, thoul'lt strive in vain when he's grown. 

L. 

Lawyers' houses are built on the heads of fools. 

Lawyers' gowns are lined with the wilfulness of their clients. 

Lawyers don't love beggars. 

There is enough here one would think to deter the most obsti- 
nate litigant from resorting unnecessarily to the legal profes- 
sion. So far as my observation has extended, I certainly do 
not blame the lawyers more than their clients. In a state of 
nature, man is naturally a "pugnacious animal;" in a civi- 
lized state, he seems as naturally a litigious one. The real 
defect, however, is in " the glorious uncertainty of the law" 
itself, which, by some curious property, possesses the double 



OF ALL NATIONS. 27 

power of repulsing and attracting its victims. While, in the 
arrogance of lawyers and solicitors— in the delay and anxiety 
of waiting the issue of suits — and the enormous expense of 
attending them, there is enough to deter any one from going 
to law ; the law itself creates the necessity by its uncertainty, 
and the necessity we are constantly under o'f appealing to its 
contradictory and ever-varying decisions, to ascertain our 
rights and properties. 

Let not your tongue cut your throat. — Arabic, 
Let them fry in their own grease. 
Lean liberty is better than fat slavery. 
Learning makes a man fit company for himself. 
Leave a jest when it pleases you best. 
Spanish. — A la burla dexarla quando mas agrada. 
Bacon observes, " He that has a satirical vein, as he maketh 
others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others' 
memory." 

Let them laugh that win. 

Give losers leave to speak and winners leave to laugh, for if you 
do not they will take it. The French say, " Rira bien, qui rira 
le dernier :" He laughs well who laughs the last. 

Let every man praise the bridge he goes over. 
Let him not look for me at home, who can meet me in the 
market-place. — Spanish. 

Recommending persons to keep their domestic establishments 
free from intrusion, especially when they have places set 
apart for public business. 

Letters blush not. 

Less of your courtesy, and more of your coin. 

Like the tailor of Campillo, who worked for nothing and 

found thread. — Spanish. 
Like master, like man. 

French. — Tel maitre, tel valet. 

Like the squire of Guadalaxara, who knew nothing in the 
morning of what he had said at night. — Spanish. 

Like a collier's sack, bad without, worse within — Spanish, 
Said to a person of a mean appearance, with a bad heart. 

Life without a friend, death without a witness. — Spanish. 

Like the dog in the manger, he will neither do nor let do« 
D 2 



28 SELECT PROVERBS 

Little and often fills the purse. — Italian, 

Little said is soon mended, and a little gear is soon spended. 

— Scotch. 
Like author, like book. 

The proverb ought to have been more precise, and specified 
what description of authors. Poets, who write from feeling, 
their works may be a tolerable transcript of their characters. 
But feelings are variable ; they change with the pressure of the 
atmosphere or the fluctuation of interest, and, of course, the 
productions of this class are only the index of their minds 
under particular circumstances. "With respect to political 
scribes, the proverb is still less applicable. If we take up the 
works of this genus, we find them at one period of their lives 
flaming aristocrats.; at another, raving democrats, and vice 
versd. What ought we to infer of them ) that their characters 
have changed with their books 1 or is it only their writings 
which have varied with their interests? We fear it is only 
the philosophers the rule will apply to. When we meet with. 
a clever book on chemistry or mathematics, we may be pretty 
sure the writer is a chemist or mathematician. The fact is, 
these men write not on themselves, but on nature. Hence 
the difference ; angles and alkalies are constant, but man is 
an animal very changeable. 

Little strokes fell great oaks. 
Live and let live. 

Look not a gift horse in the mouth. 
French. — A cheval donne, il ne faut pas regarder aux dents. . 

Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers do 

creep. 
Lookers on see more than players. 

Latin. — Plus in alieno quam in suo negotio vident homines. 
Losers are always in the wrong. — Spanish. 

French. — Qui perd, peche. 
Love thy neighbour, but pull not down thine hedge. 
Love me, love my dog. 

French. — Qui aime Jean, aime son chien. ; 

M. 

Make not thy tail broader than thy wings. 

Keep not too many attendants. 
Make the best of a bad bargain. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 29 

Make your affairs known in the market-place, and one will 
call them black and another white. — Spanish. 

Make a virtue of necessity. 

Many soldiers are brave at table, who are cowards in the 
field. — Italian. 

Many ways to kill a dog and not to hang him — Scotch. 

Many irons in the fire, some may cool. — Scotch. 

Many littles make a mickle. 
French. — Goutte a goutte, on remplit la cave. 

Many masters, quoth the toad to the harrow, when every 

tooth gave her a blow. — Scotch. 
Many kiss the hands they wish to see cut off. 
Many children, and a little bread, is a painful pleasure, — 

Spanish. 

Many slips between the cup and the lip. 

This is in Kelly's collection, as a genuine Scotch, though an old 
Greek proverb ; implying that a project maybe spoiled just at 
the point of consummation. 

Many hands make light work. 

Many go out for wool and come home shorn. — Spanish. 

Many talk of Robin Hood that never shot in his bow. 

Many a true word is spoken in jest. 

Masters are mostly the greatest servants in the house. 

Many a good cow hath a bad calf. 

Masters grow poor, and servants suffer Spanish. 

Men used to worship the rising sun. 

Latin. — Plures adorant solem orienter quam occidentem. 

Misfortunes seldom come alone. 
French.— Malheur ne vient jamais seul. 

Most haste, worst speed. 

The favourite proverb of Erasmus, was Festina lentc ! " Hasten 
slowly. " He wished it to be inscribed wherever it could meet 
the eye ; on public buildings, and on rings and seals. One of 
our statesmen, sir Amias Fawlet, used a proverb of similar 
import. When he perceived too much hurry in, a business, 
he was accustomed to say, " Stay awhile, to make an end the 
sooner." 

D 3 



30 SELECT PROVERBS 

Misunderstanding brings lies to town. 
More fools, more fun. 

French. — Plus on est des fous plus on rit. 
More words than one go to a bargain. 
Mother's darlings make but milk-sop heroes. 
Most men cry " Long live the conqueror." 
Money is welcome, though it comes in a dirty clout. 
Much would have more, and lost all. 
Much is wanting where much is desired. — Italian, 
Murder will out. 
Muot *s a word ior a king. 

Much coin, much care; much meat, much malady. 
My cow gives a good mess of milk, and then kicks it down. 

N. 
Nature takes as much pains in the womb for the forming of 
a beggar as an emperor. 

A fine argument for the natural equality of man, which 1 think 
is not to be found in the writings of Paine. But though nature 
has followed the same process in the manufacture of 41s- all, it 
does not follow that all her work is equally well turned out. 
There can be no doubt that some of us are naturally endowed 
with better memories, better judgments, greater reasoning 
powers, and greater physical strength, than others ; and, of 
course, these differences will make differences in our indi- 
vidual fortunes, and social condition. I cannot see how the 
advocates of the naturalequality of mankind can get over this 
distinction. 

Name not a rope in his house that hanged himself. 

Nae great loss, but there is some gain. — Scotc 1. 

Nothing venture, nothing have. 

Never scald your lips in other folks* broth. 

Never quit certainty for hope. — Scotch. 

Neither beg of him who has been a beggar, nor serve him 

who has been a servant. — Spanish. 
Neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring. 
Needs makes the old wife trot. 

French. — Besoign fait vielle trotter. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 31 

Never too old to learn. 
Nine tailors make but one man. 
Nits will be lice. 
A coarse but descriptive proverb of Oliver Cromwell, expressive 

of the contempt he felt for some of his mean and troublesome 

coadj utors. — D'Israeli. 

No pot is so ugly as not to find a cover. — Italian. 

Nothing so bad as not to be good for something. 

No smoke without some fire. 

No condition so low, but may have hopes; none so high, 

but may have fears. 
None is a fool always, every one sometimes* 
No shoemaker beyond his last. 

It is related of Apelles, that he exposed publicly to the Greeks 
one of his finest paintings, the " Trojan Shepherd," soliciting 
their opinion on its merits. A shoemaker found fault with 
the sandal, which the artist instantly corrected. The fool, 
puffed up with conceit, then attempted to make a ridiculous 
display of all he knew, and in a loud tone censured the finest 
part of the picture : but Apelles, turning aside with contempt, 
said, " Ne sutor ultra crepidam," the words of the proverb. 
It is applied to persons who presume to judge on subjects 
foreign to their profession or acquirements. 

No man crieth — stinking fish. 

None but great men can do great mischief. 

Nothing that is violent is permanent. 

Nothing is more playful than a young cat, nor more grave 

than an old one. 
Nobody so like an honest man as an arrant knave. 

French. — Rien ne ressemble mieux a un honnete homme, qu*un 
fripon. 

No joy without annoy. 

No fool like an old fool. 

No jesting with edge tools or with bell ropes. 

No man is wise at all times. 

French. — Les plus sages ne le sont pas toujours. 

No longer pipe, no longer dance. 

No receiver, no thief; no penny, no paternoster. 



32 SELECT PROVERBS 

None of you know where the shoe pinches. 

The answer of Paulus iEmilius to the relations of his wife, when 
they remonstrated with him on his determination to separate 
himself from her, against whom no fault could be alleged. 

No friend to a bosom friend, no enemy to a bosom enemy. 

— Scotch. J 

No alchemy equal to saving. 
Nothing so bold as a blind man. — Scotch. 

Latin. — Dulce bellum inexpertis. 

No grass grows at the market-place. 
A proverb applied to a certain description of females. 

No fault, but she sets her bonnet much too weel. — Scotch. 

That is the servant, which makes the wife a little jealous, lest 
her good man should be tempted astray. 

Novelty always appears handsome. 

Italian. — Di novello tutto par bello. 
No living man can know all things. 
No rose without a thorn. 

Latin.— Nulla est sincera voluptas. 

None can feel the weight of another's burden. 

No man ever lost his credit but he who had it not. 

Now I have got a ewe and a lamb, every one cries — Wel- 
come, Peter. 

O. 

Of a little take a little. — Scotch. 

Of young men die many ; of old men escape not any. 

Of an ill paymaster get what you can, though it be but a 

straw. 
Oil and truth will get uppermost at last. 
Old age is not so fiery as youth ; but when once provoked, 

cannot be appeased. 
Old men think themselves cunning. 
Old men and far travellers may lie by authority. 
Old foxes want no tutors 



OF ALL NATIONS. 33 

Old young, old long. 

Which answers to that in Cicero, Mature fias senex, si diu senex 
esse velis. To live long it is neseessary to live slowly. Length 
of life ought not to be measured by length of days, but by the 
quantity of animal spirits consumed. Some run their course 
at the rate of a mile, others at the rate of ten miles an hour. 
One will exhaust his energies in pleasure, business, and living, 
in thirty ; while another, by a more economical consumption, 
will protract them to seventy years. Yet the quantity of life 
enjoyed by each is the same ; the velocity of the machine has 
made all the difference. The most celebrated men have not 
been remarkable for length of days. Witness Alexander the 
Great, Charles XII. of Sweden, Shakspeare, Buonaparte, and 
last, and not least, Ihee, O Byron ! It is only such old 
chroniclers of the times as Fontenelle and St. Evremond, who 
live at a snail- pace, have '* an &gg and to bed," or a bit of dry 
biscuit, and one glass of wine— no more, that can spin out 
their web till one is apt to think them immortal, and their 
very beginning is lost in the remoteness of its origin. 

One eye witness is better than ten hearsays. — French. 

Once an use and ever a custom. — Scotch. 

One dog is better by another dog being hanged Gaelic. 

One may live and learn. 

One might as well be out of the world, as be beloved by 
nobody in it. 

One man's meat is another man's poison. 
One may sooner fall thaarise, — French. 
One fool in a house is enough in ail conscience. 
One half the world kens not how the other half lives. — 
Scotch. 

One beats the bush, and another catcheth the bird. 

One doth the scath, and another hath the scorn. 

One swallow makes not a spring, nor one woodcock a winter 

One scabbed sheep infects the flock. 

One year a nurse, and seven years the worse. 

One story is good till another is told. 

One fool makes many. — Scotch. 

By diverting them from their proper business, as is often ob- 
served in the streets of the metropolis, where, if a person 
only holds up his finger, a thousand will be instantly with- 
drawn from their proper avocations to inquire into the cause 
of it. 



34 SELECT PROVERBS 

One foolish act may undo a man, and a timely one make his 

fortune. — Gaelic. 
One is not so soon healed as hurt. 
One cannot fly without wings. — French. 
One may support any thing better than too much ease and 

prosperity. — Italian. 

There cannot be greater slavery than to have too little to do, 
or too much to spend. For one that dies of excessive exer- 
tion, perhaps a score die of mere ennui. It would, doubtless, 
be for the benefit of all classes, if the goods of the world were 
a little more equally divided, so as to avert the opposite evils 
of plethory and inanition. 

One man may better steal a horse than another look over 

the hedge. 
One thief makes a hundred suffer. — Spanish* 
That is, suspicion. 

Open confession is good for the soul. — Scotch. 

One mad action is enough to prove a man mad. 

Opportunity makes the thief. 

The Italians say, " Ad area aperta il giusto pecca:" Where a 
chest lies open a righteous man may sin. The Spaniards say, 
" Puerta abierta, al santo tienta :" The open door tempts the 
saint. A good caution to husbands, masters, and house- 
keepers. 

Out of sight, out of mind. — Dutch, 

P. 

Patience is a plaister for all sores. 

Patch by patch is good husbandry, but patch upon patch is 

plain beggary. 
Pigs love that lie together. 
Plain dealing is dead, and died without issue. 
Pleasing ware is half sold. 

French, — Chose qui plait est a demi vendu. 
Pleasant company alone makes this life tolerable. — Spanish. 
Plenty makes dainty. 

Plough or not plough, you must pay your rent. ---Spanish* 
Poor folk are fain of a little. — Scotch. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 35 

Poor folks live as well as they can. 

French. — Les pauvres gens vivent de ce qu'ils ont. 
Possibilities are infinite. 
Proffered service stinks. 
Practice makes perfect. 
Praise the sea, but keep on land. 
Praise without profit, puts little in the pocket. 

Gloria quanta libet quid erit, si sola gloria est ? 
Prate is prate, but it is the duck that lays the egg. 
Praise not the day before night. 
Policy goes beyond strength. — French. 
Pride goes before, and shame follows after. 
Pride, perceiving humility honourable, often borrows her 

cloak. 

Pride will have a fall. 

Pour not water on a drowned mouse. 

Add not affliction to misery. 

Put not a naked sword in a madman's hand. 

** Ne puero gladium." For they will abuse it to their own and 
others' harm. 

Put your finger in the fire, and say it was your fortune. — 
Scotch. 

A bitter sarcasm on those who ascribe the want of success in 
life to fortune. Dame Fortune ought long since to have gone 
to oblivion, with the rest of the heathen mythology ; her 
smiles and frowns ought never to be alluded to, except in 
verse — never in prose or conversation. What is frequently 
ascribed to ill-luck, is often nothing more than a want of fore- 
sight, prudence, industry, or perseverance : — these are the 
qualities that make men rich, prosperous, and happy. 

Put off your armour, and then show your courage. 
Put no faith in tale-bearers. 

Q. 

Quick at meat quick at work. 
Quick resentments are always fatal. 
Quit not certainty for hope. 



36 SELECT PROVERBS 

R. 

Raise no more spirits than you can conjure down. 

Remove an old tree and it will wither to death. 

Remember the reckoning. 

A good motto to be inscribed on the mantel-piece of public- 
houses, or engraven at the bottom of all porter pots, punch- 
bowls, and drinkings mugs It would make topers think of 
the "finish," though it would probably displease their land- 
lords. 

Riches in the Indies, wit in Europe, pomp among the Otto* 

mans. — Turkish. 
Rome was not built in a day. 

S. 

Save a thief from the gallows, and he will be the first to cut 
your throat. 

Satan reproves sin. 

Saying and doing are two things. 

Say well is good, but do well is better. 

Say nothing of my debts unless you mean to pay them. 

Sampson was a strong man, yet he could not pay money be- 
fore he had it. 

Scanderbeg's sword must have Scanderbeg's arm. 

An hero of the fifteenth century, who distinguished himself by 
several victories obtained over the Turks. He was king of 
Albania, and is said to have been present in twenty-two 
battles, and to have killed two thousand infidels with his own 
hands, without receiving only a slight wound. He died at 
Lissa, in the Venetian territories, 1467, aged 63. Though 
occasionally severe, he was a prince of mild manners, and 
great benevolence. 

Send your noble blood to market, and see what it will buy. 

Those who pride themselves on their ancestors, have been ludi- 
crously compared to a potato, the best part of which is under 
ground. Virtue alone ennobles : 

" He whose mind 
Is virtuous, is alone of noble kind ; 
Though poor in fortune, of celestial race ; 
And be commits the crime who calls him base." — Dryden. 
Pride of birth, however, has hardly any place in England; while 
talent, industry, and perseverance have a fair chance, when 
usefully directed, to receive their deserts. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 37 

Scorning is catching. 

Send not for an hatchet to break open an egg with. 
Seven hours' sleep make a clown forget his design. 
Secret joys are like an extinguished candle. — Spanish. 
Solitary joy is the most melancholy thing in the world. If we 
have any thing to rejoice at, let us rejoice with our friends 
and acquaintance. When I get a prize in the lottery, or my 
old uncle dies, and leaves me a thousand pounds, — 
" Then I'll sit down : give me some wine ; 
I drink to the general joy of the whole table !" 

Seek not for a good man's pedigree. 
Spanish. — Al hombre bueno no le busquen abdlengo. 

Seek till you find, and you'll not lose your labour. 

Seldom seen, soon forgotten. 

Serve a great man, and you will know what sorrow is — 

Spanish. 
Service is no inheritance. 
Set the saddle on the right horse. 
Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride to the devil. 

Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum. — Claudian. 

Shallow waters make most noise. — Scotch. 

Sharp stomachs make short graces. 

Shake a bridle over a Yorkshireman's grave, and he'll rise 
and steal a horse. 

The passion of the people of Yorkshire for horses still continues, 
if one may judge from the number and excellence of their 
race grounds, one of the most celebrated of which is called 
Knavesmire. Whether the old penchant for carrying off their 
favourite beast by night, a-la-Scot, continues, we cannot say ; 
but, in looking among the worthies of the Criminal Calendar, 
we certainly do not find a greater proportion of Yorkshire- 
men executed for horse-stealing, sheep-stealing, and other 
rustic offences, than in the other counties of the kingdom. 

Shameless craving must have shameless refusing. 

French. — A bon demandeur bon refuseur. 
Shorter is a draught than a tale. — -Gaelic. 

This proverbial cut is meant to abridge a tedious tale, or too long 
a story. 

Sly knavery is too hard for honest wisdom. 

E 



38 SELECT PROVERBS 

Short reckonings make long friends. 
French. — A vieux comptes, nouvelles disputes. 

Since you know every thing, and I know nothing, pray tell 

me what I dreamed this morning. 
Silence is consent. 

Italian. — Chi tace confessa. 
Slander always leaves a slur. 

Throw much dirt, and some will stick. 
Sluts are good enough to make sloven's pottage. 
Small rain lays a great dust. 
Some are wise, and some are otherwise. 
Some good things I do not love ; a good long mile, good 

small beer, and a good old woman. 
Sorrow and an evil life make soon an old wife. 
Sorrow and ill weather cometh unsent for. — Scotch. 
Soon hot, soon cold. 
Soon ripe, soon rotten. 

Latin. — Cito maturum, cito putridum. 
Spare to speak, and spare to speed. 
Store is no sore. 
Stars are not seen by sunshine. 
Surgeons must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a 

lady's hand. 
Success makes a fool seem wise. 
Sudden trust brings sudden repentance. 
Such as the tree is, such is the fruit. 

T. 

Tailors and authors must mind the fashion. 

Take heed of an ox before, an ass behind, and a monk on 

all sides. — Spanish. 
Take heed you find not that you do not seek. — Italian. 
Take time while time is, for time will away. — Scotch. 
Tales of Robin Hood are good enough for fools. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 39 

Talk of the war, but do not go to it. — Spanish. 

Tell me with whom thou goest, and I'll tell thee what thou 

doest. 
That is not good language which all understand not. 
That city cannot prosper where an ox is sold for less than a 

fish. 

As was the case with ancient Rome at the commencement of her 
decline. It alludes to the state of luxury which usually pre- 
cedes the downfall of nations. 

That which will not make a pot, may make a pot-lid. 
That is a prodigious plaister for so small a sore. 
That is well spoken that is well taken. 
That pilgrim is base that speaks ill of his staff. — Spanish 
That sheep has his belly full which butts his companion. — ■ 
Spanish. 

Those who have ate and drank freely are more gay and wanton 
than when cool and fasting. 

That is but an empty purse that is full of other folks' money. 
That which has its value from fancy is not very valuable. 
That which covers thee, discovers thee. 

Spanish. — Qui en te cub re te descubre. 

Intimating, that external splendour and wealth, without merit, 
only more expose the unworthiness of the possessor. 

That must be true whieh all men say. 
The first pig, but the last whelp of the litter is best. 
There is no fishing for trout in dry breeches. — Spanish. 
The tears of a whore, and the oaths of a bully, may be put 

in the same bottle. 
The chickens are the country's, but the city eats them. 
The biggest horses are not the best travellers. 
. The ass that carries wine drinks water. 
The cow knows not the value of her tail till she has lost it. 
The difference is wide that the sheets will not decide. 
The cat is in the dove-house. — Spanish. 

Said when a man has got amongst the women. 
The frying-pan said to the kettle, Avaunt, black brows, 
E 2 



40 SELECT PROVERBS 

The horse thinks one thing, and his rider another. 

Mandeville, author of the " Fable of the Bees," remarks, that if 
the horse had the gift of reason, he, for one, should be sorry 
to be its rider. He applies the same principle to the education 
of the working classes, thinking that the diffusion of know- 
ledge among them would render them less docile to their em- 
ployers, and more impatient under the hardships of their 
situation. A vile and erroneous sentiment, which has been 
entirely confuted. 

The crutch of Time does more than the club of Hercules. 

The brains of a fox will be of little service if you play with 

the paw of a lion. 
The complaints of the present times is the general complaint 

of all times. 
The golden age never was the present age. 
The eye that sees all things else, sees not itself. 
The little wimble will let in the great auger. 
The first of the nine orders of knaves is he that tells his 

errand before he goes it. 
The Italianised Englishman is a devil incarnate. — Italian. 

A pretty description of our travelling countrymen, from their 

hosts. 

The prick of a pin is enough to make an empire insipid for 

a time. 
The wise hand does not all the foolish tongue speaks. 
The pleasures of the great are the tears of the poor. 
The mouse does not leave the cat's house with a belly full. 
— Spanish. 

When a person is in fear, he is in no state for enjoyment. 
The child says nothing but what he heard at the fire side. 
The fox is very cunning, but he is more cunning that catches 

him. — Spanish. 
The devil was so fond of his children that he plucked out 
their eyes. — Spanish. 

A reproof to parents who indulge their children to the injury of 
their health and education. 

The dog wags his tail not for you, but for the bread — 

Spanish. 
The lower mill-stone grinds as well as the upper. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 41 

The more worship, the more cost. 
French. — Les honneurs coutent. 

The hog never looks up to him that threshes down the acorns. 
The eyes, the ears, the tongue, the hands, the feet, all fast 

in their way. 
The soldier is well paid for doing mischief. — Italian, 
The reserve is engaged. 

A proverbial expression of the Romans, for their last stake at 
play, and quoted by D'Israeli as characteristic of the military 
habits of that people. 

The absent party is always faulty. • 

The highway is never about. 

The Italian is wise before he undertakes a thing, the Ger- 
man while he is doing it, and the Frenchman when it is 
over. 

The worst pig often gets the best pear. 

The first men in the world were a gardener, a grazier, and 
a ploughman. 

The devil rebukes sin. 
French. — Le renard preche aux poules. 

The Englishman weeps, the Irishman sleeps, but the Scotch- 
man goes while he gets it. — 

The submitting to one wrong brings on another. — Spanish. 

The singing-man keeps a shop in his throat. — Spanish. 

The more the merrier, the fewer the better cheer. 

The devil wipes his tail with the poor man's pride. 

The remedy of to-morrow is too late for the evil of to-day. 
— Spanish. 

The ox when weariest treads surest. 
Those that are slow are sure. 

The mouse that has but one hole is easily taken. 

The pitcher does not go so often to the Avater but it comes 
home broken at last. 

The devil is good when he is pleased. 

The still sow drinks all the draff. — Dutch. 
e 3 



42 SELECT PROVERBS 

The barber learns to shave on the orphan's face. — Arabic, 

In capite orphani discit ehirurgus. 

The fairest rose at last is withered. 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. 

The weakest must go to the wall. 

The better workman, the worst husband. 

There are as many exceptions to this proverb, as to the French 
saying, "Bon poete, mauvais homme." A good poet, a bad 
man. 

The whole ocean is made up of single drops. 

The usurer and spendthrift are cat and mouse. 

The way to Babylon will never bring you to Jerusalem. 

The butcher looked for his knife when he had it in his mouth. 

The disease a man dreads, that he dies of, — Spanish. 

The dearest child of all is that which is dead. « 

The master's eye makes the horse fat. 

A fat man riding upon a lean horse, was asked how it came to 
pass that he was so fat and his horse so lean ? "Because," 
says he, " I feed myself, but my servant feeds my horse." 

The last drop makes the cup run over. 

The sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar. 

Latin. — Corruptio optimi est pessiraa. 

The friar preached against stealing when he had a pudding 

in his sleeve. 
The request of a lord is a kind of force upon a man. 
The great thieves punish the little ones. 
The informer is the worst rogue of the two. 
The least boy always carries the great fiddle. 

All lay the load upon those that are least able to bear it, or have 
the least means of defending themselves. 

The devil laughs when the hungry man gives to him with a 

belly full. — Spanish. 

The better day, the better deed. 
The Jews spend at Easter, the Moors at marriages, and the 

Christians in suits of law. — Italian. 
The highest standing the lowest fall. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 43 

The tongue breaketh bone, though itself hath none. 

The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it. — 

Scotch. 
The longest day must have an end. 
French.— -II n'est si grand jour qui ne vienne a, vespre. 

The crow thinks her own bird the fairest. 

The Ethiopians are said to paint the devil white, and, of course, 
angels black. Every one is partial to his own ; his own art, 
his own compositions, his children, and country. Self-love is 
a mote in every one's eye; and hence we not unfrequently 
observe, even tlie modest and perspicacious devour, without 
suspicion, the most fulsome flattery, when lavished ony;heir 
own imaginary virtues and perfections. 

The burnt child dreads the fire. 

The higher the ape goes the more he shows his tail. 

Honour is unseemly for a fool : Prov, xxvi. 1. 

The best payment is the peck bottom. — Scotch. 

That is, when you have measured out your grain, to receive 
your payment on the peck that measured it. 

The usual forms of civility oblige no man. 

The death of youth is a shipwreck. 

The greatest king must at last go to bed with a shovel. 

The best thing in the world is to live above it. 

The shortest answer is doing the thing. 

The clerk wishes the priest to have a fat dish. — Gaelic. 

The mouse is mistress of her own mansion. — Gaelic. 

The first thing a poor gentleman calls for in the morning, ia 

a needle and thread. — Scotch. 
The greatest clerks are not always the wisest men. 
There is no deceit in a brimmer. 

The devil's upon a great heap. 

The man that is happy in all things, is more rare than the 

phoenix. — Italian. 

The remedy is worse than the disease. — Scotch. 

The wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he 

knows all. — Italian. 
The eyes serve for ears to the deaf.— Italian. 



44 SELECT PROVERBS 

The tears of the congregation are the praises of the minister 

— Italian. 
The more you stroke pussy's back, the higher she raises her 

tail. — Gaelic. 
The wolf is always said to be more terrible than he is. — 

Italian. 

The potter is hostile to the potter. 

A proverbial verse of great antiquity : it is in Hesiod's " Works 
and Days," intimating the envy and jealousy of rival work- 
men and manufacturers. It answers to the Gaelic proverb, 
' * One dog is better by another dog being hanged." 

The burden which was thoughtlessly got must be patiently 

borne. — Gaelic. 
The habit does not make the priest. — Italian. 
The second blow makes the fray. 
The oldest man that ever lived died at last. — Gaelic. 
The mother reckons well, but the infant reckons better. — 

Spanish. 

Applied to pregnant ladies, who are often in error in their 
reckoning, wnen the appearance of the child settles the ac- 
count. 

The book of May-bees is very broad. — Scotch. 

Three removes are as bad as a fire. 

There is more hope in a fool than a man wise in his own 

conceit. 
There is no disputing of tastes, appetites, and fancies. 
There is no banquet but some dislike something in it. 
There is something in it, quoth the fellow, when he drank 

dishclout and all. 
There is none so deaf as those that will not hear. — Italian. 

There is scarcely any inconvenience without some compensating 
advantage, and we dare say, there are those who have found 
an occasional advantage in being a little hard of hearing. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds did : 

'* To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, 
When the; j udg'd without skill he was still hard of hearing ; 
"When they talk'd of their Raphaels, Corregios, and stuff, 
He shifted' his trumpet, and only took snuff." — Goldsmith. 

There would be no ill language, if it were not ill taken. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 45 

They that hide can find. 

They whip the cat if the mistress does not spin. — Spanish, 

The innocent often suffer for the negligence and indolence of 
others. 

They are scarce of horse-flesh where two and two ride on a 
dog. 

They need much whom nothing will content. 

They shall have no more of our prayers than we of their 
pies, quoth the vicar of Layton. 

They love me for little that hate me for naught. — Scotch. 

There's nothing agrees worse than a proud mind and S, beg- 
gar's purse. 

There is no quenching of fire with tow. 

There is no great banquet but some fare ill. 

There could be no great ones, if there were no little ones. 

There is never enough where nought leaves. — Italian. 

There is no general rule without exceptions. 

There's reason in roasting of eggs. 

They that sell kids, and have no goats, how came they by 
them ? 

A delicate allusion to those who live high, without any visible 
means of subsistence. 

Things unreasonable are never durable. — Italian. 

Though the sun shines, leave not your cloak at home. 

Three may keep counsel if two be away. — Scotch. 

Thistles are a salad for asses. — Scotch. 

Think much, speak little, and write less. 

Though old and wise, yet still advise. 

Thinking is very far from knowing. 

Though all men were made of one metal, yet were they not 

all cast in the same mould ? 
Though the cat winks she is not blind. 
Threatened folks live long. 
Thus it is we are ruined, husband ; you are good for little, 

and I for less. — Spanish. 



48 SELECT PROVERBS 

Time and tide stay for no man. 

Time is a file that wears and makes no noise. 

Three things cost dear : the caresses of a dog, the love of a 

mistress, and the invasion of an host. 
To strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 
To show the gallows before they show the town. — Spanish. 

Descriptive of those who tease and vex a person before they do 
him the very benefit they are about to confer — acting kindly, 
but speaking roughly. 

To take from a soldier ambition, is to take off his spurs. 

To promise, and give nothing, is comfort for a fool. 

To travel safely through the world, a man must have a 
falcon's eye, an ass's ears, an ape's face, a merchant's 
words, a camel's back, a hog's mouth, and a hart's legs. — 
Italian. 

To throw pearls before swine. 

Spanish.— Echar margaritas a puercos. 

To hang every door with May. — Italian. 

An elegant allusion to the universal lover. It is taken from the 
custom of country people in Italy, who, in the month of May, 
plant a bough before the door of their mistress. A similar 
custom prevailed in England, as we learn from Stowe. 

To be a bad wedge. — Spanish. 

Said of a fat person, when he forces himself into a crowded 
place, annoying all around him. 

To set the fox to keep the geese. — Italian. 

To lather an ass's head is only wasting soap. — Spanish. 

To expect and not to come ; to be in bed and not to sleep ; 

to serve and not to please ; are three things enough to 

kill a man. — Italian. 
To-day, me ; to-morrow, thee. 

French.— Aujourd'hui roi, demain rien. 

To borrow on usury brings sudden beggary. 

Tread on a worm and it will turn. 

Too much of one thing is good for nothing. 

" Ne quid nimis " is a wise maxim, ascribed by some to Thalos, 
by others to Solon. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 4? 

To what place can the ox go where he must not plough ? 

— Spanish. 
Touch a galled horse and he'll kick. 

Italian. — Non parlate di corda in casa delle appicato. 
Trade knows neither friends nor kindred. — Italian. 
Trust not a horse's heel nor a dog's tooth. 
Trust not the praise of a friend, nor the contempt of an 

enemy. — Italian. 
Two blacks make no white. — Scotch. 
Two eyes are better than one. — French* 
Two of a trade seldom agree. 
Two cats and a mouse, two wives in one house^ two dogs 

and a bone, never agree in one. 
Two things a man should never be angry at : what he can 

help, and what he cannot help. 

u. v. 

Under my cloak I'll kill the king. — Spanish. 

Meaning that, as a man's thoughts cannot be controlled, he may 
kill the king in imagination. 

Venture a small fish to catch a great one. 
Venture not all in one bottom. 

W. 
"Water run by, will not turn a mill. — Spanish, 
Wanton kittens may make sober old cats. 
"We must live by the quick, not by the dead. 
We are all Adam's children, but silk makes the difference. 
Weak men and cowards are commonly wily. 
We think lawyers to be wise men, and they know us to be 
fools. 

We are never so happy or unfortunate as we think ourselves. 
We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed. 
Well lathered is half shaven. 



48 SELECT PROVERBS 

We shall be all bald an hundred years hence. — Spanish. 

Aye, and in less time than that. Really, it is melancholy to 
reflect on the quick vicissitudes in sublunary affairs. Only 
think of the strange mutations in this busy metropolis, in half 
a century or less. Where will then be the bright eyes and fair 
countenances that now fill our streets with life and gaiety ! 
What will have become of the big wigs and fur gowns— the 
counsellors and judges — the orators of St. Stephen's — the 
turtle-eating aldermen, the prating common councilmen, and 
the cent-per-cents of Job-alley. The stars of Almack's, and 
the blossoms of St. Giles's, will have alike faded, or set in end- 
less night. They will all have gone out " like a snuff," and 
have been quietly put to bed with " a shovel or a spade," and 
a new generation arisen, just as vain and bustling as their 
predecessors, It makes one's heart ache to think on it, yet 
so it is — 

" Time is like a fashionable host, 
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, 
But, with his arm out-stretch'd as he would fly, 
Grasps the incomer." 

Weigh right, if you sell dear. 

Welcome death, quoth the rat, when the trap fell down. 
Was it not for hope the heart would break. — Scotch. 
Well ought a poem to be made at first, since it hath many 
a spoiler. — Gaelic. 

Lack-a-day ! Had the Gael their critics too — their Edinburgh 
and Quarterly reviewers, and all the small fry of " spoilers ?'"' 

What is the use of patience if we cannot find it when we 
want it ? 

What the eye sees need not be guessed at. 
What good can it do an ass to be called a lion ? 
What a dust I have raised, quoth the fly on the wheel. 
What cannot be cured must be endured. 
What is gotten over the devil's back is spent under his belly. 
What a man desires he easily believes. 
What 1 keep a dog and bark myself. 
What is bought is cheaper than a gift. 
What your glass tells you, will not be told by counsel. 
What you do when you are drunk, you must pay for when 
you are dry. — Scotch. 

What is done cannot be undone. — French. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 49 

What the gauntlet gets the gorget consumes. — French. 

A military proverb, ascribed to the celebrated Bayard ; imply- 
ing that the pomp and waste of a soldier's life consume all the 
sword can procure, either in pay or plunder. 

"What pretty things men will make for money, quoth the 

old woman, when she saw a monkey. 
"What enjoyment! to have little to eat, and keep a servant. 

— Spanish. 
"What's none of my profit shall be none of my peril. — Scotch, 

What may be done at any time, will be done at no time 

Scotch. 
What I cannot do by might I'll do by slight. — Scotch. 
Latin. — Si leoninae pellis non satis sit, addenda vulpina. 
What is done in the night appears in the day. — Italian. 
When the cat is away the mice will play. 
Italian, — Quando la gatta non in casa, i sorici ballano. 

When candles are out, all cats are gray. 
- Spanish. — De noche todos los gatos son pardos. 
French. — A nuit tous les chats sont gris. 

Which is the same as the English in both nations ; and shows 
either, how universally the same proverb is diffused, or how 
in different countries the same fact has given rise to the same 
observation. 

When the wine is in, the wit is out. 

When rogues fall out, honest men come by their own. 

When the shoulder of mutton is going, it is good to take a 

slice. 
When the horse is stolen, the stable-door is shut. 

The Italians say, •■ Every ditch is full of your after- wits.'* 
When the barn is full you may thresh before the door. 

When you have plenty of money, there is no need of obscurity ; 
you may live openly, and in society. 

When every hand fleeceth, the sheep go naked. 
When you are all agreed upon the time, quoth the vicar, I'll 
make it rain. 

When two friends have a common purse, one sings and the 
other weeps. 

F 



50 SELECT PROVERBS 

"When the sun shines, nobody minds him ; but when he is 

eclipsed, all consider him. 
When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing. 
When a friend asketh, there is no to-morrow. — Spanish. 
When the fox preaches, beware of your geese. 
When an ass is among monkeys they all make faces at him. 

— Spanish. 
When it pleases not God, the saint can do little. — Spanish. 

— Italian. 
When every one takes care of himself, care is taken of all, 

French. — Quand chacun se mele de son metier, les vaches sont 
bien gardees. 

" Self-love and social are the same." — Pope. 

A truth which is daily becoming more apparent, as may be seen 
by the recent removal of restrictions on commercial freedom, 
and suffering public prosperity to rest on the basis of indivi- 
dual interest. The same liberal policy will doubtless ere long 
be extended to the freedom of intellect and opinions. 

When all men say you are an ass, it is time to bray. 
When one will not, two cannot quarrel. — Spanish. 
When the curate licks the knife, it must be bad for the clerk. 
— Spanish. 

When a peasant is on horseback, he knows neither God nor 

any one. — Spanish. 
When the heart is full of lust the mouth is full of lies. 
When the cup is full carry it even. 

When you have attained power and wealth, beware of inso- 
lence, pride, and oppression. 

When the bow is too much bent, it breaks. — Italian. 

When sorrow is aleep, wake it not. 

When thy neighbour's house is on fire look to thine own. 

Latin. — Tunc tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet. 
Where nothing's to be had, the king must lose his rights. 
Where love fails, we spy all faults. 
Where nothing is, a little doth ease. 
Where the hedge is lowest, men commonly leap over. 

French. — Chacun joue au roi despouille. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 5i 

Where the carcase is, there the ravens will collect together. 
— Gaelic. 

Where a man is not known when he speaks, he is not be- 
lieved. — Italian. 

"Where men are well used they'll frequent there. 

While there's life there's hope. 

While the grass grows the steed starves. — Italian. 

Who so deaf as they that will not hear. 

Who goes to the wars eats ill, drinks worse, and sleeps on 
the ground.— Italian* 

Who has land, has war. 
French. — Qui terre a, guerre a. 

Who wishes to burn the house of his neighbour ought to 

think of his own. — Italian. 
Who looks not before finds himself behind. 
Who robs a scholar, robs the public. — Spanish. 

It is a horrid sin to rob a scholar ; a thousand times worse than 
sacrilege. They have seldom much to be robbed of, and to 
take from them the little they have is cruelty beyond endu- 
rance. Besides, literary men are strictly the servants of the 
public, who live by contributing to its amusement and instruc- 
tion. Hence the proverb ; for he who robs a scholar of his 
money, or the implements of his trade, " robs the public," by 
depriving it of the means by which it may be accommodated. 

Who hunts two hares, leaves one and loses the other. — 
Italian. 

Who shall keep the keepers ? 

Who shall hang the bell about the cat's neck. 
Italian. — Appicior chi vuol' il sonaglio alia gatta. 
This proverb is used in most European countries, and founded 
on the fable of the mice, who held a consultation on the best 
means to be apprised of the cat's coming ; when it was deter- 
mined to hang a bell about her neck. But the next question 
was, who would do it ? and hence the proverb. Kelly relates, 
that the nobility of Scotland entered into a conspiracy against 
one Spence, the favourite of James III. It was proposed to 
go in a body to Stirling, to take Spence and hang him, and 
then to offer their service to the king as his natural coun- 
sellors. The lord Gray says, " It is well said, but who will 
bell the cat ?" The earl of Angus answered, " I will bell the 
cat;" which he effected, and was afterwards called " Archi- 
bald Bell Cat." 

F 2 



52 SELECT PROVERBS 

Who can help sickness ? quoth the drunken wife, when she 

fell into the gutter. 
With cost, good pottage may be made out of the leg of a 

joint stool. 
Who hath aching teeth hath ill tenants. 
Who loses his due gets no thanks. 
Who has not a good tongue ought to have good hands. 
Who dangles after the great is the last at table, and the first 

at blows. — Italian. 

Who are you for ? I am for him whom I get most by. 

An appropriate motto for the independent electors of Gatton, 
Appleby, Old Sarum, and a score more rotten boroughs^ 

Wishes never can fill a sack. 
Without pains, no gains. 
Wit once bought is worth twice taught. 
With Latin, ahorse, and money, thou wilt pass through tire 
world. — Spanish* 

Let us have the two last, and we will be content to jog on com- 
fortably, leaving the Latin to the church and the doctors. 

Wit is folly, unless a man hath the keeping of it. 
Wine in the bottle doth not quench thirst. — Italian. 
Winter finds out what summer conceals. 
Without a friend the world is a wilderness. 
Whoever is the fox's servant must bear up his tail. — Gaelic* 
Wolves may lose their teeth, but not their nature. 
Words are but wind, but seeing is believing. 
Write with the learned, but speak with the vulgar. 
Words from the mouth only die in the ears, but words pro- 
ceeding from the heart stay there. — Italian, 

Y. 

Yielding is sometimes the best way for succeeding. — Italian* 
You look at what I drink, and not at my thirst. — Spanish* 
You are a good hand to help a lame dog over a stile. 
Your main fault is, you are good for nothing. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 53 

You may dance on the ropes without reading Euclid. 

Should any one dispute this truth, he had better go to Astley's 
Amphitheatre, or Sadler's Wells. He will there see philo- 
sophy reduced to practice ; and men who never heard of the 
centre of gravity, or the laws of motion, verifying all these 
principles, and, in a twenty-five feet ring, illustrating the laws 
which, keep the planets in their orbits. There is nothing, 
in fact, more surprising than the feats of balancing and eques- 
trianship we witness in our places of public amusement ; they 
are as interesting to the philosopher as the clown, being 
founded on the most mysterious and important principles in 
nature. Take, for example, the feat we lately saw at Astley's, 
in a piece called the " Flying Shepherd."' The horse was 
going round the circle with incredible speed, while the intrepid 
equestrian leaned inwards, with his head almost touching the 
ground. The speed of the horse, in this case, kept the rider 
in his perilous position, for had the horse slackened his pace 
the equilibrium would have been destroyed, and the rider 
precipitated to the ground. He was balanced by what mathe- 
maticians call the centrifugal and centripetal forces, of which, 
I daresay, the performer had never heard a word. It is on 
the same principle, we see crown-pieces, drinking-glasses, and 
other things, balanced ; the whirling motion they give them, 
which astonishes the uninitiated, is the very means by which 
the feat is accomplished. After all, the perfection they attain, 
by mere dint of practice, without the least acquaintance with 
the principles of their art, is astonishing. Their philosophy 
far excels the philosophy of the closet, for it is real and prac- 
tical, while the other is 'mere theory. 

You will never be revenged of a man of cool and regular 
habits. — Spanish. 
He is always too much upon his guard. 

M Calmness is great advantage ; he that lets 
Another chafe, may warm him at the fire, 
Mark all his wanderings, and enjoy his frets; 
As cunning fencers suffer heat to tire." 

You'll never be mad, you are of so many minds. 
You cannot make velvet of a sow's ear. 
You are so cunning, you know not what weather it is when 
it rains. 

You could make broth, but you have no beef. 

You must look at the horse, and not at the mare. — Spanish. 
That is, for the breed. It is used to show, that rank and blood 
must be on the side of the male in family alliances. But this 
is all exploded vanity, since science teaches that human blood 
is of the same colour, in males and females, the noble and the 
peasant. 

r 3 



54 SELECT PROVERBS 

You need not get a golden pen to write upon dirt. 

You have found a mare's nest, and laugh at the eggs. 

You may be a wise man, and yet not know how to make a 

watch. 
You saw out your tree before you cut it down. 
You have always a ready mouth for a ripe cherry. 
You can never make a good shaft of a pig's tail. 
You sift night and day, and get nothing but bran. 
Young cocks love no coops. 

You give notable counsel, but h&^e a fool that takes it. 
You must ask your neighbour if you shall live in peace. 
You will find it out when you want to fry the eggs. — Spanish. 

The proverb has its origin from a thief, who, having stolen a 
frying-pan, was met by the master ol the house as he was 
going out, who asked him his business there ; he answered, 
" You will know when you go to fry the eggs." It is ap- 
plicable to cases where we only discover the value of a thing 
when it is wanted. 

You come a day after the fair. — Scotch. 

You cannot tell a pie-bald horse till you see him. — Gaelic, 

You cannot have more of the cat than the skin. 

You cannot fair weel, but you cry roast meat. — Scotch. 

Young men think old men fools, and old men know young 

men to be so. 
You cannot catch old birds with chaff. 

Latin.— Annosa vulpes non capitur laqueo. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 55 



RELIGION, VIRTUE, AND LEARNING. 



A. 

A chaste eye exiles licentious looks. 

Alms-giving never made any man poor, nor robbery rich, 
nor prosperity wise. 

A friend is never known till needed. 
Amicus certus, in re incerta cernitur. — Cic. ex Ennio. 

An atheist is got one point beyond the devil. 

Argument seldom convinces any one contrary to his incli- 
nations. 

A madman and a fool are no witnesses. 

A lie has no legs, but a slander has wings. 

A liar is a bravo towards God, and a coward towards men. 

A wise man is a great wonder. 

A promise against law or duty is void in its own nature. 

An ape may chance to sit amongst the doctors. 

A little wind kindles a great fire, a great one blows it out. 

To this, Rochefoucault likens the effects of absence on lovers. 
He says, absence extinguishes a feeble passion, but blows a 
strong' one into a flame. 

A careless watch invites a vigilant foe. 
A wise man may look like a fool in fool's company. 
A debauched son of a noble family is a foul stream from a 
clear fountain. 

A mere scholar at court is an ass among asses. 

Away goes the devil when he finds the door shut against him. 

All vice infatuates and corrupts the judgment. 

An apple, an egg, and a nut, you may eat after a slut. 

An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. 



56 SELECT PROVERBS 

An irritable and passionate man is a downright drunkard. — 

Spanish. 
A man that breaks his word bids others be false to him. 
A man may as well expect to be at ease without wealth, as 

happy without virtue. 

An ill style is better than a lewd story. 

A knave discovered is a great fool. 

As good be hanged for an old sheep as a young lamb. 

If you will be a knave, be not so in a trifle, but in something of 
value. Kelly, in illustration of this proverb, has the follow- 
ing anecdote: A presbyterian minister had a son who was 
made archdeacon of Oss'ory ; when this was told to his father, 
he said, " if my son will be a knave, 1 am glad that he is an 
arch-knave." 'it is a false and mischievous proverb to those 
foolish enough to believe it. 

A wicked companion invites us all to hell. 

A man is not good or bad for one action. 

■ We ought to balance the good with the bad, and also the length 
of time a man has lived, to form a true estimate of his cha- 
racter. Polybius, the Greek historian, has an observation to 
the same effect: "There is no reason," saj^s he, "why we 
should not sometimes blame, and sometimes commend, the 
same person ; for as none are always right, neither is it pro- 
bable that they should always be wrong." 

A vicious man's son has a good title to vice. 

A lie begets a lie till they come to generations. 

A good life keeps off wrinkles. — Spanish. 

An old goat is never the more reverend for his beard. 

A wise man's thought walks within him, a fool's without 

him. 
A great reputation is a great charge. 

A fool may chance to put something in a wise man's head. 
A little time may be enough to hatch a great deal of mischief. 
A bad man has a blot in his escutcheon. 
A liar is not believed when he speaks the truth. — Italian. 
A horse is neither better nor worse for his trappings. 
An upright judge has more regard to justice than to men. — 

Italian. 

Amendment is repentance. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 57 

All happiness is in the mind. 

Happiness is not in a cottage, nor in a palace, nor in riches, nor 
in poverty, nor in wisdom, nor in ignorance, nor in active, 
nor in passive life — there is evil as well as good in all these. 
It is certainly in the mind, but the difficulty is in getting it to 
dwell there. An old monk has left the following maxims to 
pass through life comfortably : 

Never speak ill of your superiors. 

Perform every one's office according to his quality. 

Suffer the mad world to go its own way, for it wills to go its 
own way. 
After all, the attainment of the summum bonum is not so dif- 
ficult as is generally supposed. The first thing is not to be 
too eager in the pursuit of it ; not to make, as one may say, 
a trade of it; for it is certainly true, that he who seeks his 
content most will find it least. The way is to take things as 
they happen to turn up, easy, without too much anxiety about 
consequences. The present mode of life is much too artificial, 
has too many factitious passions — too much ambition, pride, 
and emulation, which keep men in a constant state of excite- 
ment and exertion. Follow nature : rest when you are weary, 
eat when you are hungry , drink when you are thirsty. Pursue 
what is most congenial to your inclinations and abilities. If 
you are only fit for solitude, seek not active life, and vice versd. 
No man all things can do. Indulge your inclinations, always 
subordinate to reason, and the laws and usages of society. 
Nothing overmuch is an invaluable maxim to be observed in 
all things. Lastly, if you have not the means to live accord- 
ing to these rules, endeavour to procure them as soon as pos- 
sible. __ 

" True happiness is to no spot confin'd ; 
If you preserve a firm and equal mind, 
'Tis here, 'tis there, 'tis every where."— Horace, 

An ill man is worse when he appears good. 

All fame is dangerous : good brings envy ; bad, shame. 

A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm. 

A house filled with guests is eaten up and ill spoken of. 

Spanish. — Casa hospedada, comida y denostada. 

Indiscriminate hospitality, which occasions the ruin of fami- 
lies, is seldom praised by those who have shared in it. 

A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his goings. 
Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill. 
A wise man gets learning from those who have none them- 
selves. — Eastern. m 
Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it. 



58 SELECT PROVERBS 

An hypocrite pays tribute to God that he may impose on 
men. 

After praying to God not to lead you into temptation, do 
not throw yourself into it. 

An envious man waxes lean with the fatness of his neigh- 
bour. 

A profitable religion never wanted proselytes. — Italian. 

A good conscience is the best divinity. 

A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion's claw. 

There is nothing more powerful than the pen of an able writer. 
The sword of the warrior is nothing to it. That can only have 
power over life, while the former has the gift of immortality, 
and can consign to glory or infamy the greatest names of the 
earth. Where would have been the great characters of history 
without some writer to record their actions 1 As before ob- 
served, there were many heroes prior to Fingal and Agamem- 
non ; but as there were no Ossians nor Homers, their names 
perished with their exploits. It is not, however, the dead 
only, but the living also, that great writers have power over. 
In this intellectual age, opinion is truly the queen of the 
world ; and who guide opinion but men of letters 1 They are 
the keepers of the public conscience, and the distributors of 
its judgments and honours. They are far above princes and 
statesmen, for though these may have wealth and power, they 
cannot have that permanent renown which all covet, without 
the flat of the literati. 

A libertine life is not a life of liberty. 

A wicked man is his own hell, and his passions and lusts the 
fiends that torment him. 



B. 

Better untaught than ill-taught. 
Better be alone than in ill company. — Scotch. 
Better late ripe and bear, than early blossom and blast. 
Better go to. heaven in rags, than to hell in embroidery. 
Bear and forbear is good philosophy. 
Be a father to virtue, but father-in-law to vice. 
Be merry and wise. 

Buffoonery and scurrility are the corruption of wit, 
knavery is of wisdom. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 59 

Better ten guilty escape than one innocent man suffer. 

Italian. — Meglio e liberar dieci rei, che condannar un innocente. 

A well-known maxim in English jurisprudence, which appears 
to have come from Italy. Dr. Paley doubled the policy of it 
in our criminal code, while Blackstone, and afterwards sir 
S. Romilly, were in its favour. It seems to have originated 
from observing the natural disposition of mankind, which is 
to do good rather than evil. When, therefore, in criminal 
cases, the balance of evidence is equal, we ought, from the 
greater natural tendency the accused had to refrain from than 
to commit the alleged crime, to conclude him innocent. 
Whether the fractional proportion should be one-tenth or one- 
fifteenth, is not material ; but as the interest and inclination 
of individuals — except in a few anomalous cases — are to ob- 
serve the laws, we clearly ought to require stronger testimony 
to establish their guilt than innocence. 

Bought wit is best, but may cost too much. 

Believe only half of what you hear of a man's wealth and 

goodness. — Spanish. 
Blushing is virtue's colour. 

B. 

Cheer up, God is where he was. 

Common fame is seldom to blame. 

Constant occupation prevents temptation. — Italian. 

Courage ought to have eyes as well as arms. 

Common sense is the growth of all countries. 

Confession without repentance, friends without faith, prayer 

without sincerity, are mere loss. — Italian. 
Content is the philosopher's stone, that turns all it touches 

into gold. 

M If ever I more riches did desire 

Than cleanliness and quiet do require ; 

If e'er ambition did my fancy cheat, 

With any wish so mean as to be great ; 

Continue, heaven, still from me to remove 

The humble blessings of the life I love."— Cowley. 
" Is happiness your point in view, 

(I mean the intrinsic and the true,) 

She nor in camps nor courts resides ; 

Nor in the humble cottage hides ; 

Yet form'd alike in every sphere. 

Who finds Content, wiH*find her there."— Gay. 

Criminals are punished that others may be amended. — TtaL 



60 SELECT PROVERBS 

D. 

Death has nothing terrible in it but what life has made so. 

Dissembled holiness is double iniquity. 

Do not trust nor contend, nor borrow nor lend, and you 

will live in quiet. — Spanish. 
Disputations leave truth in the middle, and party at both 

ends. 
Do not give a bribe, nor lose your right. — Spanish. 
Do not do evil to get good by it, which never yet happened 

to any. 
Do you know what charity is? forgive if you bear ill will, 

and pay what you owe. — Spanish. 
Do what thou ought, come what can. — French. 
Do weel an' doubt na man; do ill, an doubt a' men. — 

Scotch. 
Drunkenness is nothing else but voluntary madness. 
Drunkenness is an egg from which all vices are hatched. 
Drunkenness turns a man out of himself, and leaves a beast 

in his room. 
Drunkenness is a pair of spectacles, to see the devil and all 

his works. 
Dying is as natural as living. 

E. 

Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him. 
Education polishes good natures, and corrects bad ones. 
Evil gotten, evil spent. 
Latin. — Male parta, male dilabuntur. * 

Every one's censure is first moulded in his own nature. 

Enjoy your little while the fool seeks for more. — Spanish. 

Evil communications corrupt good manners. 

A very common exercise this of our school-pens, but a very 
ancient adage. It is quoted by St. Paul, and is found in a 
fragment of Menander, the comic poet. It is uncertain whe- 
ther St. Paul quotes the Grecian poet, or only repeats some 
popular saying of his time. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 61 

Every vice fights against nature. 
Envy shoots at others and wounds herself. 
Experience is the mother of science. 
Spanish. — La experiencia es madre de la sciencia. 

Example teaches more than precept. 

Experience without learning, does more good than learning 

without experience. 
Experience teaches fools, and he is a great one that will not 

learn by it. 
Experience keeps a dears chool, but fools will learn in no 

other. 

F. 

Fame is a magnifying glass. 

Faults of ignorance are excusable, only where the ignorance 

itself is so. 
Follow not truth too near the heels, lest she dash out your 

teeth. 
Follow the wise few rather than the vulgar many. — Italian. 
Folly is the poverty of the mind. 
Folly is never long pleased with itself. 
Forget others' faults by remembering your own. 
For ill do well, then fear not hell. 
Fools lade out the water, and wise men take the fish. 
From prudence, peace ; from peace, abundance. — Italian. 
Friend's help is not to be bought at a fair. 
Frost and fraud both end in foul. 

G. 

God made us, and we wonder at it. — Spanish. 

Why should we wonder at the work of an Almighty power, 
however great and incomprehensible ? It is applied to scep- 
tics, who cannot comprehend the mystery of their own creation. 

Guilt is always jealous. 

Government of the will is better than increase of know- 
ledge. 



62 SELECT PROVERBS 

Good preachers give fruits and not flowers. — Italian. 

Good actions are the best sacrifice. 

Great men's vices are accounted sacred. 

Great minds are easy in prosperity, and quiet in adversity, 

H. 

Happy is the child whose father went to the devil. 

The ill fate of the father is supposed to be a warning to the child. 
Hence this other proverb, 

" The father to the bough, the son. to the plough." 

It is, however, an exception rather than a rule, and it is far 
more natural that children should follow the example of their 
parents. If thej r do diverge from the parent type, it can only 
be in those rare instances when the difference in the natural 
propensities is so great as to surmount the almost omnipotent 
power of first impressions. As a general principle, the common 
couplet seems less exceptionable : 

" 'Tis education forms the youthful mind ; 
And as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd." 

He that is drunk is gone from home. 

He dies like a beast who has done no good while he lived. 

He who has no shame has no conscience. — Spanish. 

He is the best gentleman who is the son of his own deserts. 

He that has no modesty has all the town for his own. 

He that shows his passion, tells his enemy where he may 

hit him. 
He who avoids the temptation avoids the sin. — Spanish. 
He that knows useful things, and not he that knows many 

things, is the wise man. 
He keeps his road well enough who gets rid of bad company. 
He that will not be counselled cannot be helped. 
He who resolves to amend has God on his side. 
He is handsome that handsome doth. — Spanish. 
He that kills a man when he is drunk, must be hanged when 

he is sober. 

He's a puddled stream from a pure spring. 

He that swells in prosperity will shrink in adversity. 



OF ALL NATIONS 63 

He preaches well who lives well. 
Spanish. — Bien predica quien bien vive. 

He that prys into the clouds may be struck with a thunder- 
bolt. 

He that goes to church with an ill intention, goes to God's 
house on the devil's errand. — Spanish. 

He that gives to a grateful man puts out to usury. 

He distrusts his own faith who often swears. — Italian. 

He eats the calf in the cow's belly. — Scotch. 
Applied to those who spend their money before it is earned. 

Hell is paved with good intentions. 

Hell is crowded with ungrateful wretches. 

Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good 
works. 

Hide nothing from your minister, physician, nor lawyer.— 
Italian. 

Honesty has nae pride. — Scotch. 

Honest men are soon bound, but you can never bind a 
knave. 

How can you think yourself the wiser for pleasing fools. 

His clothes are worth an hundred pounds, but his wit is 
dear at a groat. 

Humility gains often more than pride. — Italian. 

Hypocrisy is a sort of homage that vice pays to virtue. 

Hypocrites are a sort of creatures that God never made. 

The Spaniards, in their comic way, say, " It is better to eat grass 
and thistles, than to have a hood over the face." 



If the best man's faults were written on his forehead, it 

would make him pull his hat over his eyes. — Gaelic. 
If every one would mend one, all would be mended. 
Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. 
If the brain sows not corn, it plants thistles. 
It is altogether in vain to learn wisdom and yet live foolishly, 
g 2 



G4 SELECT PROVERBS 

If they say you are good, ask yourself if it be true 

Spanish. 

I know no difference between buried treasure and concealed 
knowledge. — Italian. 

tis a base thing to betray a man because he trusted you. 

It is pride, and not nature, that craves much. 

It is good to hear mass and keep house. — Spa?iish. 

Spoken of those who, under pretence of attending the service of 
religion, neglect their domestic duties. 

Ignorance is the mother of devotion. 

In conclusion, serve God and do no ill. — Spanish. 

A beautifully short sermon, and admirable abridgment of reli- 
gion and morality. It is worthy the attention of those long- 
winded preachers, who bewilder their hearers with unintel- 
ligible annotations on points of faith, and drowsy exhortations 
to moral duties. Do no ill, but all the good you can, is the 
perfection of human conduct, and it would perhaps be as well 
for society if this sentiment was engraven on our public build- 
ings, or simply repeated to the people, in room of a great deal 
of the extemporaneous rant and stolen goods with which they 
are now wearied and perplexed. St. John is said to have 
indulged in a shorter sermon than the proverb ; when old and 
infirm, he simply exhorted his hearers to " Love one another," 
which is both a summary of divinity and social duties. 

It is always term time in the court of conscience. 

It is human to err, but diabolical to persevere. 

It costs more to revenge injuries than to bear them. 

It's better to sit with a wise man in prison than a fool in 

paradise. — Russian. 
It has been the misfortune of many to live too long. 

They have outlived their reputation, or done things in the latter 
period of their lives unworthy the commencement of their 
career. 

It is self-conceit that makes opinion obstinate. 

I will not change my cottage in possession for a palace in 

reversion. 

It is as great cruelty to spare all, as to spare none. 

J. 

Jest not with the eye, nor religion. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 65 

job was not so miserable in his sufferings as happy in his 
patience. 

K. 

Keep out of brawls, and you will neither be a principal nor 

a witness. — Spanish. 
Knaves imagine nothing can be done without knavery. 
Knavery may serve a turn, but honesty is best at long run. 

Honesty is certainly the best policy. Though there may be 
sometimes an apparent advantage in taking a shorter cut, we 
always find, in the long run, that fair and upright dealings are 
the nearest and surest way to wealth and happiness. Detected 
knavery is, undoubtedly, the greatest of all foolery- While a 
man pursues an honourable course, all the world is on his 
side ; when he adopts an insidious, dishonest one, the laws 
and all the feelings of society are against him. Who can 
doubt, then, which, is the best line to choose, merely as a 
matter of prudence. Mr. Hume, indeed, questioned the truth 
of the old adage ; but David had puzzled himself with subtle 
refinements, in which he lost all perception of the boundaries 
between truth and error. We have a higher authority than 
Mr. Hume on this point ; for he was much better acquainted 
with the world. Junius, in a private note to Woodfall, saj-s, 
" After long experience in the world, I affirm, before God', I 
never knew a rogue who was not unhappy."— WoodfalVs 
Junius, vol. i. p. 237. 

Knowledge is silver among the poor, gold among the nobles, 
and a jewel among princes. — Italian. 

Knowledge directs practice, yet practice increases know- 
ledge. 

Knowledge is no burden. 

Knowledge in every state is a grand treasure. 
Italian. — Scienza in ogni stato e un grande tesoro. 

Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist. 

L. 

Learning is worse lodged in him, than Jove was in a thatched 

house. 
Learning is a sceptre to some, a bauble to others. 
Learn wisdom by the follies of others. — Italian. 
Let another's shipwreck be your sea-mark. 
G 3 



66 SELECT PROVERBS 

Lordly vices require lordly estates. 

Life is half spent before we know what it is. 



M. 

Make the night night, and the day day, and you will live 

happily. — Spanish. 
Man proposes, but God disposes. — Scotch. 
Many that are wits in jest, are fools in earnest. 
Mean men admire wealth, great men glory. 
Men's years and their faults are always more than they are 

willing to own. 
Men fear death as children to go into the dark. 
Mortal man must not keep up immortal anger. 
More wisdom and less religion. — Italian. 
Most men employ their first years, so as to make the last 

miserable. 
Most things have two handles ; and a wise man takes hold 

of the best. 

More a man knows, and less he believes. 
Italian. — Chi piu sa, meno crede. 

N. 
Nature teaches us to love our friends, religion our enemies. 
Necessity hath no law. 
Neither praise nor dispraise thyself; thine actions serve 

the turn. 
Never be weary of well-doing. 
No matter what religion a knave or a fool is of. 
No religion but can boast of its martyrs. 
No rogue like the godly rogue. 

No mother is so wicked but desires to have good children.— 
Italian. 

Not God above gets all men's love. 

No tyrant can take from you your knowledge. 



OF ALL NATIONS* 67 

O. 

Obscene words must have a deaf ear. 

Of two evils the least is to be chosen. 

Oftentimes, to please fools, wise men err. 

Old men go to death, but death comes to young men. 

One may discern an ass -in a lion's skin without spectacles. 

Only that which is honestly got, is gain. 

One ill word asketh another. 

One ill example spoils many good precepts. 

Our flatterers are our most dangerous enemies, yet often be 

in our bosoms. 
Our virtues would be proud, if our vices whipped them not. 

P. 

Parnassus has no gold mines in it. 

Otway, Butler, Goldsmith, and others of the Old School, cer- 
tainly did not find any; but some of our modern poets have 
been more fortunate, and discovered very rich veins there! 

Passionate men, like fleet hounds, overrun the scent. 

Patience is a plaister for all sores. 

Pen and ink are wit's plough. 

Pleasures, while they flatter, sting to death. 

Point not at other's spots with a foul finger. 

Prayer should be the key of the day, and the lock of the 

night. 
Prevention is better than cure. 
Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more 

saucy. 

Q. 

Quick believers need broad shoulders. 

R. 

Reason governs the wise man, and cudgels the fool- 
Repent a good action if you can. 



68 SELECT PROVERBS 

Religion and language we suck in with our milk. 

Reckless youth makes ruefu' age. — Scotch. 

Respect and contempt s; oil the world. — Italian. 

Religious contention is the devil's harvest. — French. 

.French.— Pendant que les chienss'entregrondent, le loup devore 
la brebis. 

Reynard is still Reynard, though he put on a surplice. 
We have several proverbs to the same purport, as " What is bred 
in the bone can never be out of the flesh ;" " A young saint, 
an old saint ; a young devil, an old devil." They seem to 
have arisen from the general observance, that age is but a 
type of youth, that youth is only age in miniature. To a con- 
siderable extent this is correct ; for though education may do 
much to form our tempers and opinions, we should be mis- 
taken did we think it had power to eradicate the fundamental 
dispositions of our nature. Mr. Owen thinks otherwise ; but 
the old sayings, which comprise centuries of experience, do 
not corroborate his principles. Nature may be modified, but 
not subdued. It will always show itself: like iEsop's damsel 
turned from a cat into a woman, who sat demurely at table 
till a mouse happened to cross the room. The story of Socrates 
is against this reasoning ; but many of the ancient philoso- 
phers were only remarkable for pride and affectation, and any 
examples from them are of no great authority. 

Revenge in cold blood is the devil's own act and deed. 
Roman virtue it was that raised the Roman glory. 
Rule lust, temper the tongue, and bridle the belly. 

S. 
Seamen are the nearest to death, and the farthest from God. 
Seek not to reform every one's dial by your own watch. 
Self-exaltation is the fool's paradise. 
Speak the truth and shame the devi'. 
Show me a liar, and I'll show you a thief. 

French. — La mentir est le premier de tous les maux. 
Some are atheists only in fair weather. 
So the miracle be wrought, what matter who did it? 
Sin is sin, whether it be seen or no. 
Scandal will rub out like dirt when it is dry. 
Short pleasure, long lament. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 69 

Slanderers are the devil's bellows to blow up contention. 
Small faults indulged, are little thieves that let in greater. 
Steal a pig, and give the trotters for God's sake. 
Spanish. — Hurtar el puerco y dar los pies Dios. 

Solitude makes us love ourselves; conversation, others. 
Solitude dulls the thought ; too much society dissipates it. 
Superstition renders a man a fool^ and scepticism makes him 
mad. 

T. 

Take away fuel, take away flame. 

Remove the tale-bearer, and contention ceaseth. 
That which was bitter to endure may be sweet to remember. 
The most penitent anchorite has now and then a flight of 

vanity. 

The best mode of instruction is to practice what we teach. 
The reward of unlawful pleasure is lawful pain. 
The usefullest truths are the easiest comprehended. 
The thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a 

thief. 
The sting of a reproach is the truth of it. 
The conquered is rarely called wise, or the conqueror rash. 
The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears. 
The chamber of sickness is the chapel of devotion. 
The evening crowns the day. 

Italian. — Un bel morire tutta la vita honor a. 

The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs 
teaching. 

The gown's her's that wears it, and the world's his who 

enjoys it. 
The devil is a busy bishop in his own diocese. 
There is a devil in every berry of the grape. — Turkish, 
The devil is the monkey of God. — Italian. 
The devil is the perfect courtier. 



70 SELECT PROVERBS 

The muses love the morning. 

The nature of things will not be altered by our fancies of 

them. 
The remedy for injuries, is not to remember them — Italian. 
The credit that is got by a lie only lasts till the truth comes 

out. # 

The church 13 out of temper, when charity waxes cold and 

zeal hot. 
The drunkard continually assaults his own life. 
The best remedy against an ill man is much ground between 

both. — Spanish. 
The pen of the tongue should be dipped in the ink of the 

heart. — Italian. 
The poet, of all sorts of artificers, is the fondest of his 

work. 
The first chapter of fools, is to esteem themselves wise. 
The king goes as far as he can, and not so far as he will. — 

Spanish. 

Mr. D'lsraeli thinks this ancient saying implies in the Spaniards 
a sort of " Whiggish jealousy of the monarchical power ;" but 
the more natural interpretation appears to be, that it shows 
the necessity of controlling our inclinations, as even the enjoy- 
ments of a king are limited. 

The longest life is but a parcel of moments. 

The wise man knows the fool, but the fool doth not know 

the wise man. — Eastern. 
The sickness of the body may prove the health of the soul. 
The cross on the breast, and the devil in actions. — Spanish. 
The wicked even hate vice in others. 

Italian. — 11 viti altrui displace alii stessi vitiosi. 

The Spaniards say, " A bajd mother wishes good children." 
There cannot be a nobler tribute to virtue than the homage of 
the wicked, who secretly admire her precepts, though the 
violence of their passions prevents their adopting them in 
practice. 

The world would finish were all men learned. 

The best way to see divine light, is to put out thine own 
candle. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 71 

The hermit thinks the sun shines no where but in his cell. 
The wrath of brothers is the wrath of devils. — Spanish. 
The offender never pardons. — Italian. 
The timid and weak are the most revengeful and implacable. 
The loquacity of fools is a lecture to the wise. 
The example of good men is visible philosophy. 
The fool is busy in every one's business but his own. 
The good palliate a bad action. 

Italian. — La buona intenzione scusa 'el mal fatto. 

The follies of youth are food for repentance in old age. 

The devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, 
the ambitious with power, the learned by false doctrine. 

The first degree of folly is to think one's self wise ; the next 
to tell others so ; the third, to despise all counsel. 

The devil goes shares in gaming. 

There are as many serious follies as light ones. 

The greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness. 

The most lasting monuments are, doubtless, the paper mo- 
numents. 

The noblest remedy of injuries is oblivion. 

There is no honour where there is no shame. — Italian, 

They ought not to do evil that good may come. 

There is no medicine against death. — Italian. 

To read and not to understand, is to pursue and not to take. 
— Italian. 

To err is human, to persist in it beastly. — Spanish. 
Too much fear is an enemy to good deliberation. 
Truth refines, but does not obscure. 

Spannh. — La verdad adelgazo pero no quiebra, 
Truth may be blamed, but it can never be shamed. 
Truth hath always a fast bottom. — Gaelic, 
Truths and roses have thorns about them. 
Truth may languish but can never perish. — Italian, 
Truths too fine spun, are subtle fooleries. 



7"2 SFXECT PROVERBS 

Truth is the daughter of time. 
Italian. — La verita e figlia del tempo. 

To give his honour, to ask his grief. — Spanish. 
A proud, but generous sentiment. 

To a bad character, good doctrine avails nothing. — Italian, 

U. V. 

CJnkindness has no remedy at law. 

Vain glory blossoms, but never bears. 

Vice is it's own punishment, and sometimes it's own cure, 

Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms. 

W. 

"Wealth breeds a pleurisy, ambition a fever, liberty a vertigo,* 

and poverty is a dead palsy. — Gaelic. 
"We talk, but God doeth what he pleases. 
We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. 
We have all forgotten more than we remember. 
Well to judge depends on well to hear. — Italian. 

The French say, " A foolish judge makes a short sentence.'* 
What the eye sees not, the heart rues not. 
What maintains one vice would bring up two children. 
What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals. 

Latin. — Quod est in corde sobrii est in ore ebrii. 

When you are angry, remember that you may be calm ; and 
when you are calm, remember that you may be angry. — 
Spanish. 

When honour grew mercenary, money grew honourable. 

"Who thinks to deceive God, deceives himself. — Italian. 

Woe to those preachers who listen not to themselves. 

Who is wicked in the country will be wicked in the town. 

Who thinks often of death, does things worthy of life.— 
Italian. 

W r ho teaches often learns himself. — Italian. 



©F ALL NATIONS. 73 

Where content is, there is a feast. 

Who is not used to lie thinks every one speaks the truth.— 
Italian. 

Who draws others into ill courses is the devil's agent. 

Who thinks every day to die can never perish. — Italian. 

Worth begets in base minds envy ; in great souls emu- 
lation. 

Who has one foot in a brothel, has the other in a hospital. — 
Italian. 

Where reason rules, appetite obeys. 

Where honour ceases, knowledge decreases. 
Latin.— Honos alit artes. 

Who preaches war is the devil's chaplain. 

Who is bad to his own is bad to himself. — Italian. 

When you would be revenged on your enemy, live as you 

ought, and you have done it to some purpose ! 
Who follow not virtue in youth, cannot fly sin in old age. — 

Italian. 
Worth hath been under-rated ever since wealth was over- 
valued. 
Who pardons the bad, injures the good. — -Italian. 
Who perishes in needless danger is the devil's martyr. 
Who loseth his due, getteth no thanks. 
Who spitteth against the wind spits in hzs own face. 
When you have no observers be afraid of yourself. 
When a proud man hears another praised, he thinks himself 

injured. 
When passion enters at the foregate, wisdom goes out at the 

postern. 
Wise men have their mouth in their heart, fools their heart 

in their mouth. 
Wisdom without innocence, is knavery ; innocence without 

wisdom, is folly. 
Wisdom don't always speak in Greek and Latin. 
Wise msn learn by others' harm, fools by their own. 

H 



74 SELECT PROVERBS 

Wise men care not for what they cannot have. 

Who ever suffered for not speaking ill of others ? 

Wicked men, like madmen, have sometimes their lucid 

intervals. 
Where the heart is past hope, the face is past shame. 

U. 

Unkindness has no remedy at law. 

Y. 

Years know more than books. 

You would do little for God if the devil were dead. — Scotch. 

You make a great purchase when you relieve the neces- 
sitous. 

You plead after sentence given. 

You should ask the world's leave before you commend your- 
self. 

You will never repent of being patient and sober. 

You may break a colt, but not an old horse. 

You will never have a friend, if you must have one without 
failings. 

Your father's honour to you is but a second-hand honour. 

Youth and white paper take any impression. 

Z. 

Zeal, without knowledge, is like fire without light. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 75 



LAWS, GOVERNMENT, AND PUBLIC 
AFFAIRS. 



A. 

A prince wants a million, a beggar but a groat 

An ass that carries a load is better than a lion that devours 

men. 
An illiterate king is a crowned ass. 

Italian. — II re non letterato e un asino incoronato. 

A king is never powerful that has not power on the sea. — 

Italian. 
A king promises, but observes only what he pleases. 

Italian. — Ua prince promette, ma non osserva se non. cio die gli 
corciple. 

An ill man in office is a public calamity. 

A true Englishman knows not when a thing is well. 

Who knows but it is to the grumbling spirit of our countrymen 
that England owes her superiority to other nations! Thank 
God, we have not the phlegm of the Germans, to whom, if 
they only say *' Eat straw," they eat straw. 

Antiquity cannot privilege an error, nor novelty prejudice 

a truth. 
A deceitful peace is more hurtful than open war. 

Italian.— Noce piu la pace simulata, che la guerra aperta. 
Antiquity is not always a mark of verity. 
A king's favour is no inheritance. 
An ox should not be on the jury at a goose's trial. 

B. 

Be you never so high the law is above you. 
Better a lean peace than a fat victory 
By wisdom peace, by peace plenty. 
h 2 



76 SELECT PROVERBS 

F. 

From the anger of a lord, and from a mutiny of the people, 

God deliver us — Spanish. 
For sovereign power all laws are broken. — Spanish. 

G. 

Good laws often proceed from bad manners. 

Italian. — Le buone leggi spesso nascono da cattivi costumi. 
Good kings never make war, but for sake of peace. 
Good men are a public good. 

H. 

He whose father is alcalde goes to trial with confidence. 
Spanish. — Quien padre tiene alcalde, seguro va a juicio. 

He that puts on a public gown, must put off the private 
person. 

He that England would win, must with Ireland first begin. 

In time of war Ireland is of the first importance to this country, 
furnishing her with a number of able men, both soldiers and 
sailors, and likewise beef, pork, butter, and other provisions, 
for victualling her fleets and garrisons : if these supplies were 
cut off, by Ireland being in the hands of an enemy, it would 
be extremely detrimental. 

He is half a king who has the king's good graces. — Italian. 
Hospitality to the exile, and broken bones to the oppressor. 
— Gaelic. 

A noble sentiment, worthy to be engraven on the banners of 
England, and form the basis of her foreign and domestic policy. 
We have greatly degenerated from the virtues of our remote 
progenitors. The ancient Gael, e«ven in their fastnesses and 
mountains, were more generous than their descendants in all 
their opulence and grandeur. They had no Alien Bills — no 
midnight arrests— no espionage to fright the stranger from their 
shores, or render his abode there precarious. They did not 
unite with oppressors, or, by a suspicious neutrality, counte- 
nance their injustice ; they threw open their doors to the exile, 
and broke the bones of the oppressor. The sentiment is so 
magnanimous, it seems worthy preserving in the original 
Gaelic ; 

" Fialachd dh' an fhdgarrach, *s enamhan brist dh'an eacorach." 



OF ALL NATIONS. 77 

He who gives to the public gives to no one. 

Spanish. — Quien hace por comun, hace por ningun. 
He that serves the public obliges nobody. — Italian. 
He that buys magistracy must sell justice. 
Human laws reach not thoughts. 

I. J. 

In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard 
will be a church ; by a Frenchman, a fort ; by a Dutch- 
man, a warehouse ; and by an Englishman, an alehouse. 

It is the justice's clerk that makes the justice. 

It were better to hear the lark sing, than the mouse cheep. 

A border proverb of the Douglases ; to express, as sir Walter 
Scott observes, what Bruce had pointed out, that the woods 
and hills of their country were their safest bulwarks, instead 
of the fortified places, which the English surpassed their neigh- 
bours in the art of assaulting and defending. 

Justice will not condemn, even the devil, wrongfully. 

K. 

King's chaff is worth other men's corn. — Scotch. 

The perquisites that attend kings are better than the wages of 
other persons. 

Kings and bears oft worry their keepers. 

Kings have long arms, and have many eyes and ears.— Italian. 

Kings have no power over souls. 

L. 

Laws catch flies, but let hornets go free. 
Law makers should not be law breakers. — Scotch, 
Law governs man, and reason the law. 

Like the judges of Gallicia, who, for half a dozen chickens, 
will dispense with a dozen penal statutes. — Spanish. 

A similar dole is said to have been formerly very efficacious with 
our country justices of the peace. Another Spanish proverb 
says, " To the judges of Galliciago with feet in hand," alluding 
to a present of poultry, usually held by the legs. 

ii 3 



78 SELECT PROVERBS 

Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish. 
Law is costly, take a part and agree. — Scotch. 

M. 

Might overcomes right. 

Money is an abridgment of human power. 

Italian. — II danaro e un compendio del potere humano, 

Much disorder brings with it much order. — Spanish. 

Much law but little justice. 

Where there is much law, there must be much uncertainty, and 
uncertainty in the laws must be productive of litigation, which 
itself is a cause of great suffering and injustice to those pos- 
sessed of little property. 

N. 

New lords, new laws. 

No money, no Swiss. 

Alluding to the base and selfish policy of the cantonal and federal 
governments of Switzerland, who sold their citizens to shed 
their blood in the wars of other nations. 

O. 

Oppression causes rebellion. 

Of all wars, peace ought to be the end. — Pax qucsritur hello. 

Oppression will make a wise man mad. — Scotch. 



P. 

Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world. 

This is in the wrong tense ; it ought to have been in the past, 
not in the present time. Popular opinion is not now a thing 
to be despised, though, prior to the more general diffusion of 
letters, it was little better than popular delusion. What, in- 
deed, was the opinion of the educated classes worth two 
centuries ago, upon any question of morals, government, or 
natural philosophy ? What did they know of any branch of 
physical science, of political economy, penal law, or the prin- 
ciples of government? They had no books, and if they had, 
they could not have read them. Many of the peers, 'in the 
reign of Henry VIII., did not know how to read, and could 
only sign their names with that almost forgotten symbol a — X 
which the most illiterate classes would now be ashamed of 



OF ALL NATIONS. 79 

employing. Books upon hobgoblins, witches, omens and in- 
cantations, formed the literature of the age, and, of course, 
the more of this sort of knowledge any one possessed, the 
more stupid and mischievous he^ became. James I. was 
esteemed wise in his generation ; he was the Solomon of his 
time, and his superior wisdom consisted in burning and tor- 
menting those who differed from him on the nature of the 
Divine essence. Judge Hale is a well-known instance of the 
vandalism of the upper-classes to a recent period : this lumi- 
nary of the law could not define simple lavceny ; but under- 
stood the nature of witchcraft, and publicly condemned men 
for this imaginary offence, amidst the applause of his no less 
enlightened contemporaries! Popular opinion was a " great 
lie," when Galileo was prosecuted for explaining the true nature 
of the earth's motion ; but the times have widely changed. 
The invention of printing, and consequent spread of know- 
ledge, have dispersed the cloud with which all ranks were 
eifveloped ; and the vox poj)uli may be now considered the 
barometer of truth. 

Possession is eleven points of the law, and they say there 

are but twelve. 
Peace would be general in the world, if there were neither 

mine nor thine. 

Italian. — Gran pace sarrebbe in terra, se non vi fosse il mio, e 
il tuo. 



Kigid justice is the greatest injustice. 

This seems paradoxical. It doubtless means that to execute the 
laws strictly to the letter, without regard to those circum- 
stances of alleviation, which occasionally attend the commis- 
sion of crime, would be unjust. For example, when theft is 
committed merely to obtain the means of subsistence, or 
murder after suffering a grievous provocation, for which there 
is no redress ; then it seems fair the execution, if not the sen- 
tence of the law, should be mitigated. The English penal code 
has, in several instances, provided a different punishment for 
the same offence, owing to the circumstances under which it 
was committed, as in the different cases of homicide. But it 
was impossible to foresee all the shades of difference, which 
tend to soften or aggravate the atrocity of crimes, and, in con- 
sequence, considerable discretion is left in the execution of 
the laws to the judge or chief magistrate. This does not alter 
the fundamental principle of jurisprudence, that the law should 
be the same for all ; it only modifies the execution, not the 
sentence of the law. It makes no distinction between the rich 
and the poor ; for if a gentleman commits a felon's offence, he 
receives a felon's punishment, without regard to his embroi- 
dered coat or long purse. 



80 SELECT PROVERBS 

Rewards and punishments are the basis of good govern- 
ment. 
Italian. — Pena e premio son 1'anima del buon governo. 

S. 
Soldiers in peace are like chimnies in summer. 
Such is the government, such are the people. — Italian. 

T. 

The blood of the soldier makes the glory of the general. 
Italian. — II sangue del soldato fa grande il capitano. 

The people murder one another, and princes embra^fe one 

another. — Italian. 
The soldier is well paid for doing mischief. 

Italian. — II soldato per far male e ben pagato. 
The king's cheese goes half away in parings. 
That war is only just which is necessary. 
The king may give honour, but thou art to make thyself 

honourable. 
The multitude of offenders is their protection. 
The subject's love is the king's life guard. 
■ The fear of war is worse than war itself. 

Italian. — Peggio e la paura della guerra, che la guerra istessa* 
The guilty man fears the law, the innocent man fortune. 
The greater the man, the greater the crime. 
The word of a king ought to be binding, as the oath of a 

subject. — Italian. 
The more laws, the more offenders. 
The worst of law is, that one suit breeds twenty. 
The laws go as kings please. 

Spanish. — Alia van leyes, donde quieren reyes. 

The king may bestow offices, but cannot bestow wit to ma- 
nage them. 

Their power and their will are the measures princes take of 
right and wrong. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 81 

The treason is loved, but the traitor is hated. — Italian. 

A sentiment often repeated by Julius Csesar, of which probably 

he was the author. Shakspeare has forcibly expressed the 

feelings of one who had been deceived. 

<J Thou cold-blooded slave, 

Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side ? 
Been sworn my soldier 1 bidding me depend 
Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength? 
And dost thou now fall over to my foes ? 
Thou wear'st a lion's hide ! doff it, for shame, 
And hang a calf-skin on those recreant limbs 1" 

Traitors, false friends and apostates, may be all included under 

the same anathema. 

The mob has many heads, but no brains. 

The magistrate's son escapes from every thing. — Spa?iish. 

'* Great men," says Mr. Collins, " too often commit all sorts of 
villainies with impunity." Not in England, we presume. It 
is long since the aristocracy of this country lost the privilege 
to levy contributions, to rob, and murder, with impunity, 
Thank God, the highest person in the kingdom (except the 
king, who, the bishops say, can do no wrong), cannot raise a 
finger against the lowest, without being amenable to the laws. 
The case is different in Ireland, if Mr. Wakefield be correct ; 
but that has long been a " spot accursed," out of the pale of 
the law and justice too. 

The larger states are, the more they are subject to revolu- 
tions. — Italian. 

That trial is not fair, where affection is judge. 

Trade and commerce are universal cheating by general 

Consent. 
To keep a custom, you hammer the anvil still, though you 

have no iron. 

W. 

War makes thieves, and peace hangs them Italian. — 

French. 
War with the world, and peace with England Spanish. 

It is uncertain whether this ."historical proverb be the result of 
the splendid folly of. the Spanish armada; but England must 
always have been a desirable ally to Spain, against her power- 
ful neighbour. Such is the natural policy of Spain ; but how 
the wisdom of the foregoing maxim has been sacrificed under 
the sway of her late sovereigns ! 

Wars bring scars. 



82 SELECT PROVERBS 

War is death's feast. 
The Italians say, " When war begins, hell open3.* 

War, hunting, and love, have a thousand pains for one plea- 
sure. 
Spanish,— Guerra, caza, y amores, por un placer mil dolores. 

We may see a prince, but not search him. 
What a great deal of good great men might do ! 
What Christ takes not, the exchequer carries away. — 
Spanish. 

A striking picture of national suffering, under the double evils 
of a rapacious church and oppressive taxation. 

Where there are many laws, there are many enormities. 

Where drums beat, laws are silent. 

Who draws the sword against his prince, must throw away 

the scabbard. 
Who knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to reign. 

Italian. — Chi non sa dissimulare, non sa regnare. 

A favourite maxim of Tiberius, the Roman emperor, and of 
Louis XIII. of France. 

Who serves at court, dies on straw. — Italian. 

Alluding to the uncertainty of royal favour. It cannot, of course, 
apply to England, where it is well known the sunshine of the 
court is the most sure means of providing for a comfortable 
old age ! 

Who eats of the king's goose will void a feather forty year3 

after. — French. 
With the king and the Inquisition, hush ! — Spanish. 
The gravity and taciturnity of the Spaniards have been ascribed 
to this proverb. It is descriptive of the state of the people 
when the popular spirit was subdued, and every one dreaded 
to find a spy under his roof. 

Wise and good men invented the laws, but fools and the 
wicked put them upon it. 

Y. 

You pretend the public, but mean yourself. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 83 



ECONOMY, MANNERS, AND RICHES. 



A. 

A broad hat does not always cover a wise head. 

Ask thy purse what thou shouldst buy. 

A man that keeps riches, and enjoys them not, is like an ass 

that carries gold, and eats thistles. 
Accusing the times is but excusing ourselves. 
A great fortune is a great slavery. 
A bird is known by its note, and a man by his talk. 
A fop of fashion is the mercer's friend, the tailor's fool, and 

his own foe. 

A good presence is letters of recommendation. 

A hog upon trust grunts till he is paid for. 

A man in debt is stoned every year.- — Spanish. 

That is, he is dunned, persecuted, and ultimately harassed to 
death, by the perpetual visitations of his creditors. It is a 
question, worthy trie attention of the parliament, to ascertain 
now many poor persons in this commercial country are annually 
driven to suicide or to Bedlam from pecuniary embarrassment. 
One of the greatest improvements in legislation would be to 
follow the example of America, and abolish compulsory pro- 
cess for the recovery of debts. It would not only root out a 
fruitful source of litigation and inconsiderate speculation, but 
abolish a gross anomaly in our jurisprudence. To give the 
power of arbitrary imprisonment to a creditor is to identify 
the prosecutor with the judge, and to make a man amenable, 
not to fixed laws, but to the passions and caprice of incensed 
individuals. 

All covet, all lose. 

Argus at home, but a mole abroad. 

Italian. — In casa argo, di fuori talpa. 

A spur in the head is worth two in your heel. 



84 SELECJ PROVERBS 

A mittened Gat never was a good hunter. 

A sluggard takes an hundred steps because he would not 

take one in due time. 
Account not that work slavery that brings in penny savory, 
A sillerless man gangs fast through the market — Scotch. 
As you salute, you will be saluted.— -Italian. 
A nod from a lord is a breakfast for a fool. 
A gentleman ought to travel abroad, but to dwell at home. 
A rich man's foolish sayings pass for wise ones. — Spanish. 
A rascal grown rich has lost all his kindred. 
A good word for a bad one, is worth much and costs little. 

— Italian. 
A man without ceremony had need of great merit in its 

place. 
All saint without, all devil within. 
Alike every day makes a clout on Sunday. — Scotch. 
According to your purse govern your mouth. — Italian. 
A rolling stone gathers no moss. 
As good play for nothing, as work for nothing 
A full purse never lacks friends. — Scotch. 
A covetous man makes a halfpenny of a farthing, and a 

liberal man makes sixpence of it. 
Always taking out of the meal tub, and never putting in, 

soon comes to the bottom. 

A penny spared is twice got. 

An artist lives every where. 

A Greek proverb, used by Nero, when he was reproached with 
the ardour with which he gave himself up to the study of music. 
It answers to the Spanish, '* A skilful mechanic maK.es a good 
pilgrim." He will in every place find the means to maintain 
himself; which gives him an advantage over the gentleman, 
who might beg, while the artist could live by his trade. No 
class is, in fact, more independent than mechanics. For this 
reason Rousseau thought every child should be instructed in 
some trade ; and the Germans, of all ranks, formerly were 
brought up to some handicraft, so that they migtybe provided 
against the vicissitudes of fortune. 

All men think their enemies ill men. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 85 

A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away with him. 
All is fine that is fit. 

An ass is the gravest beast, an owl the gravest bird. 
A civil denial is better than a rude grant. 
A man's folly ought to be his greatest secret. 
An oak is not felled at one stroke. 
A servant is known by his master's absence. 
A shoemaker's wife and a smith's mare are always the worst 
shod. 

The Spaniards say, " In the smith's house the knife is made of 
wood ;" implying, that where they have the means and oppor- 
tunity of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life, they 
are generally the most wanting. Indeed, it were easy to show, 
that there are many other good things of this world beside a 
knife and a horse-shoe, which we do not enjoy, for other 
reasons than the want of opportunity to procure them. Man 
is a very foolish and perverse creature, and his actions in- 
fluenced (Mr. Bentham's theory notwithstanding) by veiy dif- 
ferent considerations than a sober calculation of self-interest. 

All is soon ready in an orderly house. 
Anger and haste hinder good counsel. 
A poor man's debt makes a great noise. 
All complain of want of memory, but none of want of judg- 
ment. 
A man without money is a bow without an arrow. 
An open countenance, but close thoughts.— Italian. 

Advice given by the elegant Wotton to Milton, prior to the 
young poet commencing his Italian travels. 

An empty belly hears nobody. 

A poor man has not many marks for fortune to shoot at. - 
An old dog cannot alter his way of barking. 
An idle brain is the devil's workshop. 
A fool and his money are soon parted. 
A pennyworth of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow. 
A young man idle, an old man needy. — Italian. 
At a good bargain pause awhile. 
A little neglect may breed great mischief. 
i 



86 SELECT PROVERBS 

A fat kitchen makes a lean will. 
Avarice increases with wealth. — Italian. 
A pin a day is a groat a year. — Scotch. 
A stitch in time saves nine. 

A true nobleman would prefer rag3 to patched clothes.— 
Spa?iish. 

Mr. Collins explains this proverb to mean, " that a man of 
honour ought to embrace poverty, rather than be guilty of 
meanness to support his rank in life." This is very good; 
but I should rather interpret the proverb literally, and think 
that a person of spirit and dignity would prefer " the hole out 
to a clout." As a noted wit once observed, one is an accident 
of the day, but the other is a certain sign of helpless and pre- 
meditated penury. 

A wager is a fool's argument. 

A threadbare coat is armour proof against an highway- 
man. 

A very good or very bad poet is remarkable ; but a mid- 
dling one, who can bear ? 

An affected superiority spoils company. 

A poor squire ought to have his cup of silver, and his kettle 
of copper. — Spanish. 

Though they will cost the most at first, they will last the longer, 
and in the end be the cheapest. 

A skilful mechanic is a good pilgrim. — Spanish. 
An empty purse and a new house make a man wise too late. 
— Italian. 

A lean dog gets nothing but fleas. — Spanish. 
Alluding to the unfortunate, who are shunned by their former 
associates and friends. Paupertas fugitur, toto que arcessitar 
- orbe. — Luc an. 

As is the garden, such is the gardener. — Hebrew. 

A small leak will sink a great ship. 

A deluge of words and a drop of sense. 

A man loses his time that comes early to a bad bargain. 

A wicked book is the worse because it cannot repent. 

A great dowry is a bed full of troubles. 

A man may cause his own dog to bite him. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 87 

B. 

Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. 

Bashfulness is boyish. 

Better eat grey bread in your youth than in your age. — 

Scotch. 
Better a clout than the hole out. — Scotch. 
Beauty is potent, but money is omnipotent. 

French. — Amour fait beaucoup, mais argent fait tout. 
Burn not your house to fright away the mice. 

To subdue a trifling evil do not incur a greater. 

Begging of a courtesy is selling of liberty. 

Better wear out shoes than sheets. 

Better give a shilling than lend and lose half-a-crown. 

Better have one plough going than two cradles. 

Better is the last smile than the last laughter. 

Business to-morrow. 

A Greek proverb, applied to a person ruined by his own neglect. 
The fate of an eminent person perpetuated this expression, 
which he casually employed on the occasion. One of the 
Theban polemarchs, in the midst of a convivial party, received 
despatches relating to a conspiracy : flushed with wine, al- 
though pressed by the courier to open them immediately, he 
smiled, and in gaiety laying the letter under the pillow of his 
couch, observed, "Business to-morrow!" Plutarch records 
that he fell a victim to the twenty-four hours he had lost, and 
became the author of a proverb, which was still circulated 
among the Greeks. 

Better half a loaf than no bread. 

Better spared than ill spent.— Scotch. 

Business is the salt of life. 

Busy folks are always meddling. 

Boys will be men. 

C. 

Care will kill a cat; yet there is no living without it. 
Conversation teaches more than meditation. 
Come not to the counsel uncalled. — Scotch. 
I 2 



88 SELECT PROVERBS 

Conceited men think nothing can be done without them. 
Clowns are best in their own company, but gentlemen are 

best every where. 
Crows are never the whiter for washing themselves. 
Contempt is the sharpest reproof. 
Craft, counting all things, brings nothing home. 
Cautious men live drudges to die wretches. 
Count siller after a' your kin — Scotch, 

A precious safe maxim this, and not a little characteristic of the 
country it comes from. The reader will remark, that most of 
the proverbs relating to saving and economy, are of Scottish 
origin. 

Contempt will sooner kill an injury than revenge. 

Compliments cost nothing, yet many pay dear for them. 

Curse on accounts with relations ! — Spanish. 

They generally expect to be favoured ; and if not, there arises 
animosity and ill blood. 

Cure your sore eyes only with your elbow. 



D. 

Dependence is a poor trade. 

Despair has ruined some, but presumption multitudes. 
Do as most do, and fewest will speak evil of thee. 
Do not buy of a huckster, nor be negligent at an inn. — 
Spanish. 

Do not all that you can do ; spend not all that you have ; 

believe not all that you hear ; and tell not all that you 

know. 

Drown not thyself to save a drowning man. 

Do not ruin yourself to save a man, from whose character or 
situation, there is no hope of effectually serving. 

Drinking water neither makes a man sick, nor in debt, nor 

his wife a widow. 
Drive thy business ; let not that drive thee. 
Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 89 

Dirt is the dirtiest upon clean white linen. 
An imputation on a man of spotless character leaves the foulest 
blot. 

Do not close a letter without reading, nor drink water with- 
out seeing it. — Spanish. 

Dumb folks get no lands. 
Too much diffidence, as well as too forward a disposition, may- 
impede a man's fortune. 

E. 

Enough is a feast, too much a vanity 
Every one should sweep before his own door, 
Every man is the son of his own work. 
Every one must live by his trade. 

French. — II faut que le pretre vive de l'autei. 
Every one has a penny to spend at a new alehouse. 
Every man loves justice at another man's house ; nobody 

cares for it at his own. 

We all naturally love fair play among others, and it is only when 
self intervenes, that we become subject to a sinister bias. 
This is a truth that needs no illustration here. We have 
abundant proof of it in the conduct of judges, juries, politi- 
cians, ministers of religion, and every class; all of whom are 
perfectly honourable men, till some darling interest, opinion 
or connexion, interferes to bias their decisions. 

Every one thinks he hath more than his share of brains. 
Expect nothing from him who promises a great deal. — 
Italian. 

F. 

Fancy may bolt bran, and think it flour. 

Father, in reclaiming a child, should out-wit him, and sel- 
dom beat him. 

For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the 
horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost. 
Showing how a small neglect sometimes breeds a great mischief. 

Fine dressing, is a fine house swept before the windows. 
i 3 



90 SELECT PROVERBS 

For mad words, deaf ears. 

Flattery sits in the parlour, while plain dealing is kicked 

out of doors. 
Forecast is better than work hard. 
Fortune can take nothing from us but what she gave. 
Fortune knocks once at least at every man's door. 



G. 

Good words cost nothing, but are worth much. 

God send us some money, for they are little thought of 

that want it, quoth the earl of Eglinton at prayer. — 

Scotch. 
Go not for every grief to the physician, for every quarrel 

to the lawyer, nor for every thirst to the pot Italian. 

God makes and apparel shapes, but money makes the man. 

Latin. — Pecuniae obediunt omnia. 
Good bargains are pick-pockets. 

Grieving for misfortunes is adding gall to wormwood. 
Grandfather's servants are never good. 
Give neither counsel nor salt till you are asked for it. — 

Italian. 
Give a clown your finger, and he'll take your whole hand. 

H. 
Have not the cloak to make when it begins to rain. 
Help hands, for I have no lands. 
He who has neither ox nor cow, ploughs all night and has 

nothing in the mom'mg.—Spanish. 
He may make a will upon his nail for any thing he has to 

give. 
He who pays well is master of every body's purse. 
He who shares has the worst share. — Spanish, 
He may find fault that cannot mend. — Scotch, 
He is idle that might be better employed. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 91 

He who trusts to the landlady at a tavern feels it at home. 

, Spanish. 
lie who -would catch fish must not mind getting wet. — 

Spanish. 
He who rises late neither hears mass nor eats meat. — 

Spanish. 
He that falls in the dirt, the longer he lies the dirtier he is. 

He who w r ill stop every man's mouth, must have a great deal 

of meal. 
He who works in the market-place has many teachers.— 

Spanish. 
He that has no silver in his purse, should have silver on his 

tongue. 
He that lives upon hope, has but a slender diet. 
He hath swallowed a stake, he cannow bow. 
He knows not a hawk from a handsaw. 
He that died half a year ago is dead as Adam. 
He is fool enough himself, who will bray against another 

ass. 
He who says what he likes, hears what he does not like. — 

Spanish. 

He is not wise who is not wise for himself. 

He who would thrive, must follow the church, the sea, or 

the king's service. 

Spanish. — Quien quiere medrar, iglesia, o mar, o casa real. 

He that lends to all who will borrow, shows great good will, 

but little sense. 
He loves bacon well that licks the sow's breech. 
He sends to the East Indies for Kentish pippins. 
He that makes himself an ass, must not take it ill if men 

ride him. 

He is not drunk for nothing, who pays his reason for his 

reckoning. 

He has left his purse in his other breeches. 
He plays well that wins. 



92 SELECT PROVERBS 

Honours set off merit, as dress handsome persons. 

He that wears black must hang a brush at his back. 

To clean off the dust, which it shows more than any colour. 
Men, or rather boys and monkeys, are very imitative crea- 
tures. George IV . on one occasion, was reported in the news- 
papers to have had on a black stock, and ever since black 
stocks have been worn, d la militaire, by every apprentice and 
serving man in the metropolis. As to myself, I think black 
an odious colour. First, because it is a professional cut, with 
which are associated ideas of cant and law, of lawn sleeves, wigs, 
and gowns, all of which I despise. Secondly, it is a grave and 
melancholy costume. It is long since gravity was considered 
a type of superior intellect (a part, by the by, of the " Wis- 
dom of the Ancients,") and why should a black coat indicate 
superior holiness, learning, or respectability ? It is clearly a 
colour that tends to excite gloomy ideas, and there are, cer- 
tainly, abundant subjects of melancholy in this world without 
any artificial creations that way. My last objection to it is 
philosophical, and applies only to hot weather. Opticians 
inform us that colours are not in bodies themselves, but arise 
solely from the reflection of the different rays of light. Thus, 
those that reflect the red rays, are of a red colour ; violet — 
violet : orange— orange ; and so on to the end of the chapter. 
From this it follows, that bodies which reflect the greatest 
number, and the hottest rays, are the coolest. Now white is 
that colour, for it throws off all the solar rays, whereas black 
absorbs them all. White then is the coolest, and black the 
hottest wear in the summer. Away then with black coats, 
hats, cravats, beards, and every thing else of a sable hue, for 
the gay and cheerful white, which, in the Dog Days at least,, 
is the only philosophical costume! 

He hath slept well that remembers not that he hath slept ill. 
He had need rise by times that would please every body. 
He has riches enough, who needs neither borrow nor flatter. 
He who has a trade may travel every where. — Spanish. 
He who buys by the penny, keeps his own house and other 

men's too. 
He who studies his content wants it most. 
He that knows not when to be silent, knows not when to 



He who doth not rise early never does a good day's work. 
He scratches his head with one finger. 

A Greek proverb, applied to persons of effeminate manners, 
He has the Bible in his hand, and the Alcoran in his heart. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 93 

He speaks as if every word would lift a dish. 

He'd skin a louse, and send the hide and fat to market. — 

Irish. 
He's like a bagpipe ; you never hear him till his belly is 

full. 
He hath made a good progress in a business, who hath 

thought well of it before hand. 
He who has an art, has every where a part. 
Italian. — Chi ha arte, per tutto ha parte. 

He is miserable once who feels it, but twice who fears it 

before it comes. — Eastern. 
He that spares when he is young, may spend when he is old. 
He who promiseth runs in debt. — Spanish. 
He that hears much, and speaks not all, shall be welcome 

both in bower and hall. 
Italian. — Parla poco, ascolto assai, e non falliri. 

He that buys a house ready wrought, has many a pin and 
nail for nought. 

The French say, " II faut acheter maison fait, et femme a, faire." 
A house ready made and a wife to make. 

He that laughs when he is alone, will make sport in com- 
pany. 

He that converses not, knows nothing. 

He set my house on fire only to roast his eggs ! 

He that fears you present will hate you absent. 

He lights his candle at both ends. 

He that wiH thrive must rise at five ; he that bath thriven 
may lie till seven. * 

He who serves well, need not be afraid to ask his wages. 

He is never likely to have a good thing cheap, that is afraid 
to ask the price. — French. 

He who stumbles twice over one stone, it is no wonder if he 
break his neck. — Spanish. 

He that canna mak sport should mar nane. — Scotch. 
He's an ill boy that goes like a top, no longer than it is 
whipt. 



94 SELECT TROVERBS 

He that has a great nose thinks every body is speaking of it. 

He sneaks as if he would creep into his mouth. 

He wounded a dead man to the heart. 

He has ae face to God, anither to the devil. — Scotch. 

He that would by the plough thrive, himself must either hold 

or drive. 
Honey in the mouth saves the purse. 

Italian. — Miele in bocca, guarda la borsa. 
Honours change manners. 
Hunting, hawking, and love, for one joy have a hundred 

griefs. — Scotch. 
He who converses with nobody, is either a brute or an. 

angel. 
He knows which side of his bread is buttered. 
He mends like sour ale in summer. 

I. 

Idle folks have the most labour. 

Idle men are dead all their life long. 

Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world. 

I sell nothing on trust till to-morrow. 

Written on the shop doors. 

If an ass goes a travelling, he r ll not come home a horse. 

If you would be a pope, you must think of nothing else. 

If you would succeed in any undertaking of importance, you. 
must devote all your mind and attention to it. 

If you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your 

knuckles. 
If better were within, better would come out. 
If you have a loitering servant, place his dinner before him, 

and send him of an errand. — Spanish. 

Idle folks have mostly the sharpest appetites, and a bribe, in 
the shape of something to eat or drink, puts them the sooni'St 
in motion. 

Industry is fortune's right hand ; frugality, her left. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 95 

If you wish a thing done, go ; if not, send. 

If youth knew what age would crave, it would both get and 

save. 
If mistress and you miss, who is to sweep the house. — 

Spanish, 
If you make money your god, it will plague you like the 

devil. 
If the counsel be good, no matter who gave it. 
It is more easy to praise poverty than to bear it. — Italian. 
In affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith but by 

the want of it. 
If you be not ill, be not ill-like, — Scotch. 
If fools went not to market, bad ware would not be sold. — 

Spanish. 
It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. 
Impudence and wit are vastly different. 
If you play with a fool at home, he'll play with you abroad. 

— Spanish. 
It is a pity that those who taught you to talk, did not also 

teach you to hold your tongue. 
If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask for 

it again. — Portuguese.% 
It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare. — Scotch. 
It is miserable hospitality to open your doors and shut your 

countenance. 
It is a poor art that maintains not the artizan.. — Italian. 
Jests, like sweetmeats, have often sour sauce. 



K. 

Keep a thing seven years and you will find a use for it.— 

Gaelic. 
Keep out of a hasty man's way for a while ; out of a sullen 

man's, all the days of your life. 
Keep your thoughts to yourself ; let your mien be free and 

open. 



96 SELECT PROVERBS 

Keep something for a fair fit. — Scotch. 

Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee. 

Keep aloof from quarrels ; be neither a witness nor a party* 



I 



Let choler he a common soldier, not a commander. 

Let us be friends, and put out the devil's eyes. 

Let your letter stay for the post, not the post for your letter, 

— Italian. 
Loquacity is the fistula of the soul, ever running and ne?er 

cured. 
Liberality is not in giving largely, but in giving wisely. 
Leave raillery when it is the most agreeable. 

Italian. — Lascia la burla, quando piu piace. 

Since long stories went out of fashion with the hoops and wire 
caps of our grandmothers, a talent for raillery became the most 
engaging social accomplishment. There is, certainly, nothing 
more entertaining than a little bit of banter on the follies and 
vanities of our friends and acquaintance : it often does them 
good, and nobody in the world any harm, provided it is well 
carried on. But, like the handling of a delicate lancet, it re- 
quires great skill in the management, so that it only punctures 
the skin, without wounding the flesh and leaving a rankling 
soreness behind. Charles II. is represented to have possessed 
this fine tact to perfection. Nobody knew better how to hit 
the morbid parts of his companions, yet, like a dexterous 
fencer, he used his weapon with so much grace, good-breed- 
ing, and good-nature, that they could never harbour any re- 
sentment for the punishment he inflicted. The rule in the 
proverb is a good one, and founded on a just observance of 
colloquial jokery. The fact is, we are never so well pleased 
with our smart sayings, as when we are doing the most exe- 
cution ; when our* jokes tell the best, or, as the saying is, the 
cap fits, we enjoy them the most, and then is the great danger, 
lest, in the tide of victory, we caricature the real (for it is 
only the truth that wounds) infirmities of our friends, in a way 
even good tempers cannot bear, in jest or earnest. 

Listeners hear no good of themselves. 

Little said is soon amended. 

Little boats must keep near shore, larger ships may venture 

more. 
Lucky men need no counsel. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 9? 

Lying rides on debt's back. 
To put off our creditors we have recourse to subterfuges, which, 
if not absolute lving, are a near approach to it. 

Long is the arm of the needy. — Gaelic. 



M. 

Many there be that buy nothing with their money but re- 
pentance. 

Make hay while the sun shines. 

Make a wrong step, and down you go. 

More nice than wise. 

Modest appearance, good humour, and prudence, make a 
gentleman. 

Make yourself all honey, and the flies will devour you. — 
Italian. 

Money makes the man perfect. 
Latin. — Integer est judex, quisquis non indiget auro. 

Many talk like philosophers, and live like fools. 

Masters should be sometimes blind and sometimes deaf. 

Men apt to promise, are apt to forget. 



N. 

Nothing should be done in haste but gripping of fleas.— 

Scotch. 
Nature sets every thing for sale to labour. 

There are only two sources of wealth — land and labour. The 
spontaneous produce of the earth is limited, but there is no 
limit to the produce of industry. 

Neither give to all, nor contend with fools. 
Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open. 
None so old that he hopes not for a year of life. 
Never lose a hog for a halfpenny worth of tar. 
Never sign a writing till you have read it, nor drink wine 
till you have seen it.— Spanish. 

K 



98 SELECT PROVERBS 

No sweet without some sweat ; without pains, no gains. 
No raillery is worse than that which is true. 

Italian, — Non ce la peggior burla che la vera. 
Neither great poverty, nor great riches, will hear reason. 

O. 

Out of debt, out of danger. 

One that is perfectly idle is perfectly weary too, and knows 

not what he would have or do. 
Of money, wit, and virtue, believe one-fourth of what you 

hear. 
Overdoing is doing nothing to the purpose. 
One barber shaves not so close but another finds work. 
Of little meddling comes great ease. 
Of saving cometh having. 

Owe money to be paid at Easter, and Lent will seem short 
to you. 

One ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit. 
One may live and learn. 



Pay as you go, and keep from small score. 

Pains to get, care to keep, fear to lose. 

Past labour is pleasant. 

Poor men may think well, but rich men may think well and 

do well. 
Play's gude while it is play. — Scotch. 
Poverty is the mother of all arts. 

Italian. — La poverta e la madre di tutti l'arti. 
Provide for the worst, the best will save itself. 
Poverty breaks covenants. 
Poverty is an evil counsellor 
Poverty breeds strife. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 99 

Poverty is no baseness, but it is a branch of knavery. 

JSpatiish. — La probeza no es villeza, mas es ramo de picardia. 

" He whom the dread of want ensnares, 
With baseness acts, with meanness bears." 

Poverty craves many things, but avarice more. — Italian. 

Poverty has no shame. 

Spanish. — A pobreza, no hay verguenza. 

Poverty makes a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows. 
Poverty is social slavery. 

The old sayings on the evils of poverty are numerous — and no 
wonder, for it is a bitter calamity. Burke has justly observed, 
that riches give a man the same ascendance in civilized society, 
which superior strength does in a state of nature. Without 
money we are powerless ; we can neither have law, nor physic, 
nor good divinity. What then is a man it' he has not the means 
to protect property, preserve health, nor procure salvation 1 
He is poor indeed! He is a slave — doubly so, in body and in 
mind. He must toil for somebody to live, and, though he may 
think, he must be wary how he speaks, lest he offend his em- 
ployers — may be his patrons ! Oh the word ! he had better 
be a negro and boil sugar than a needy man in a great city. 
To walk about tongue-tied and chop-fallen, the scorn of 
wealthy fools, and surrounded with enjoyments, which, to 
him, only '"vex his eye and tease his heart!" He lies under 
the double curse of Tantalus, and the gnawing of Prometheus. 

Purposing without performing, is mere fooling. 

Praise without profit, puts little in the pocket. 

Praise a fair day at night. 

Q. 

Quality without quantity is little thought of. — Scotch. 
Quarrelling dogs come halting home. 
Quick landlords make careful tenants. 
Quiet persons are welcome every where. 
Quick returns make rich merchants. 

K. 

Rise early and you will see ; wake and you will get wealth. 
— Spanish. 



100 SELECT PROVERBS 

Riches, like manure, do no good till they are spread. 
Riches may at any time be left, but not poverty. 
Running hares do not need the spur. — Italian. 



S. 

See, listen, and be silent, and you will live in peace. — 
Italian, 

Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire. 

So much of passion, so much of nothing to the purpose. 

Speak well of your friend, of your enemy say nothing. 

Spare to speak, spare to speed. 

Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to 
run away. 

Sit in your place and none can make you rise. 

Spend not where you may save ; spare not where you must' 
spend. 

Spend and be free, but make no waste. 

Speak little and to the purpose, and you will pass for some- 
body. 

Setting down in writing is a lasting memory. 

Some are very busy and do nothing. 

T. 

Take time while it is, for time will away. 
Talking pays no toll. 
Take heed will surely speed. 

Tell not all you know, nor do all you can. — Italian. 
That which is well done is twice done. 
Think of ease but work on. 
That i^good sport that fills the belly. — Scotch. 
Take away fuel and take away flame. 
The stone that lies not in your way, need not offend you. 
The best of the game is, to do one's business and talk little 
of it. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 10 i 

The best throw upon the dice is to throw them away. 
The money you refuse will never do you good. 
There are more lords in the world than fine gentlemen. 
The sun is never the worse for shining on a dung-hill. 
The sweat of Adam's brow has streamed down ours ever 

since. 
Too much spoileth, too little is nothing. 
The belly teaches all arts. 

Italian.— Tutte le scienze insegna il ventre. 

The present fashion is always handsome. 

The fox's wiles will never enter into the lion's head. 

The dearer it is, the cheaper it is to me, for I shall buy the 

less. 
The head grey, and no brains yet ! 
There are no coxcombs so troublesome, as those that have 

some wit. 
The more wit, the less courage. 
The foolish ulchymist sought to make gold of iron, and made 

iron of gold. — Italian. 
The poor man's wisdom is as useless as a palace in a wilder^ 

ness. — Gaelic. 
The sluggard's guise — loth to bed and loth to rise. 
The eye of the master doth more than both hands. 
The poor do penance for the follies of their superiors. — 

Italian. 

There is a knack of appearing knowing, if we can only be 
silent. 

The king of good fellows is appointed for the queen ot 

beggars. 
Three things only are well done in haste : flying from the 

plague, escaping quarrels, and catching fleas. 
The rich and ignorant are sheep with golden wool. — 

Italian. 

The horse-shoe that clatters wants a nail Spanish. 

Applied to those who boast most of their wealth, when in the 
greatest difficulties. . 

K 3 



102 SELECT PROVERBS 

The abuse of riches is worse than the want of them. 

There are two things men ought to take special care of; their 
health and their pockets. If either of these be indisposed, 
God help the sufferer. The Italians say, " Poverty is half a 
sickness ;" but of the two, I think the health had better be 
low than the pocket. In sickness we need little, but in health 
our wants are like armed men, and must be. satisfied. Bacon 
says, " Knowledge is power," but the wisdom of a poor man 
goes a very little way, while the loquacity of a rich fool car- 
ries everything before it. Poverty is real"slavery— bodily and 
mental. By all means, then, we ought to get money ; not to 
hoard, but to spend — to procure enjoyment, liberty, inde- 
pendence, and, above all the power of doing good. 

The fool wonders, the wise man travels. 

The less wit a man has, the less he knows he wants it. 

To him that wills, ways are seldom wanting. 

The holidays of joy are the vigils of sorrow. 

The study of vain things is laborious idleness. 

They may know the workman from his work. — Italian. 

The true art of making gold, is to have a good estate, an£ 

spend little of it. 
The poor man's budget is full of schemes. — Spanish. 
The more riches a fool hath, the foolisher he is. 
The easiest way to dignity is humility. 
Though a coat be never so fine which a fool wears, yet 'tis 

but a fool's coat. 
Try your friend with a falsehood, and if he keep it a secret, 

tell him the truth. — Italian. 

There is no fishing for trout in dry breeches. — Spanish. 

If we would enjoy any good, we must make the necessary sacri- 
fices to obtain it. 

The more you court a mean man, the statelier he grows. — 

Spanish. 
To believe a business impossible, is the way to make it so. 
To work for the bishop. 

Spanish.— "Trabajar para el obispo." A figurative allusion, 
implying, a man's industry and exertions have yielded no 
profit nor advantage to him. 

To be a fool or a knave in print, doth but bring the truth 
to light. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 103 

Tlfat man is cheaply bought who costs but a salutation. 
To quake at work, and sweat at meals. 

Spanish. — Al hacer temblar, y al comer sudar. 
The best is the cheapest. — Italian. 
The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. 
There is more trouble in having nothing to do, than in 

having much to do. — Italian. 
To be proud of an hereditary title is to flaunt in a dead 

man's clothes. 
That bolt never came out of your quiver. 
That is a wise delay which makes the road safe. 
True valour is fire ; bullying is smoke. 
To whom you betray your secret, you give your liberty. — 

Italian. 

Too much familiarity breeds contempt. 

Plutarch observes that, out of three of the best things, three of 
the worst arise : from truth, hatred ; from familiarity, con- 
tempt ; from happiness, envy. 

Trouble not your head about the weather, nor the govern- 
ment. 

U. 

Unbidden guests know not where to sit down. 
Unexperienced men think all things easy. 
Use soft words and hard arguments. 

V. 

Virtue itself, without good manners, is laughed at. 
Venture thy opinion, but not thyself for thy opinion. 

W. 

"Wealth makes worship. 

"Wealth is best known by want. 

"Well to work and make a fire, it doth care and skill require. 

When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner. 



104 SELECT PROVERBS 

Who spends more than he should, shall not have to spend 

when he would. 
"VVe hate delay ; yet it makes us wise. 
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. 
"Where necessity pinches, boldness is prudence. 
With foxes we must play the fox. 
Wit is folly, unless a wise man has the keeping of it. 
When necessity comes in, turn modesty out. 
Wine and youth are fire upon fire. 
Who more brag than they that have least to do. 
Worth, without wealth, is a good servant out of place. 
What the better is the house for the sluggard rising early. 
Wealth is not his who gets it, but his who enjoys it. 
When a man is not liked, whatever he does is amiss. 
Who will not keep a penny shall never have many. 
Wrinkled purses make wrinkled faces. 
When a fool has bethought himself, the market is over. 
When you have any business with a man, give him title 

enough. » 
When you have bought one fine thing you must buy ten more, 

so that your appearance may be all of a piece. 
When either side grows warm with argument, the wisest 

man gives over first. 

Weigh right, if you sell dear. 

Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you 

like it not at present. 
Would you know the value of money, go and borrow some. 

— Spanish. 
We must not be down and cry, God help us ! 
When you meet with a fool, pretend business to get rid of 

him. 
Who buys has need of an hundred eyes, who sells has enough 

of one. 
We are bound to be honest, but not to be rich 
What tutor shall we find for a child sixty years old ! 



OF ALL NATIONS. 105 

When the door is shut, the work improves. — Spanish. 

lou are less liable to be interrupted, or have your attention 
withdrawn from your business. 

When you obey your superiors, you instruct your inferiors. 
When a man's coat is threadbare, it is easy to pick a hole 
in it. 

When a man is unfortunate and reduced in the world, any one 
may find fault with his conduct. 

When the horse is stolen, you shut the stable door. 
When gold speaks, all tongues are silent. — Italian. 
When the pig is proffered, hold up the poke. 
We must live by the quick, and not by the dead. 
Who has nothing in this world is nothing. — Italian. 
When your companions get drunk and figl t f take up your 
hat and wish them good night, 

Y. 

You have fouled yourself, and now you would have me clean 

you. 
You must be content sometimes with rough roads. 
You may tell an idle fellow if you but see him at dinner. 
You may offer a bribe without fear of having your throat 

cut. 
You must let your phlegm subdue your choler, if you would 

not spoil your business. 
You have good manners, but never carry them about you. 
You must not cut and deal too. 

You may give him good advice, but who can give him wit 
to take it. 

You must not expect sweet from a dunghill, ncr honour 

from a clown. 
Your looking-glass will tell vou what none of your friends 

will. 
You may know by a penny how a shilling spends. 
You gazed at the moon and fell in the gutter. 



106 SELECT PROVERBS 

Your trumpeter is dead, so you sound yourself. 
Your great admirers are mostly but silly fellows. 
You had rather go to mill than to mass. — Spanish, 
You must cut your coat according to your cloth. 

French.— Selon le pain il faut le couteau. 
You'll sit till you sweat, and work till you freeze. 
You are a good seeker, but a very bad finder. 
You are always best when asleep. 
Yonr teeth are longer than your beard. 
You know not where a blessing may light. 
You are a sweet nut if you were well cracked. 
Your head will never fill your pocket. 
You are as busy as a hen with one chick. 
You come like a godfather, after the child is christened. 
You want to taste the broth as soon as the meat is put ia« 



OF ALL NATION*. 107 



WOMEN, LOVE, AND WEDLOCK. 



At the gate which suspicion enters, love goes out. 
A mill, a clock, and a woman, always want mending. 
At weddings and funerals, friends are discerned from kins- 
folk. 
An old man is a bed full of bones. 
As the good man saith, so say we ; but as the good woman 

saith, so it must be. 
A woman and a greyhound must be small in the waist. — 

Spanish. 
A little house well rilled, a little land well tilled, and a little 

wife well willed. 
A fair woman, with foul conditions, is like a sumptuous 

sepulchre, full of corruption. 
A buxom widow must be either married, buried, or shut up 

in a convent. — Spanish. 
All come to delude her, but none to marry her. — Spanish. 
A man may love his house well, and yet not ride on the 

ridge. 

A man may love his children and relations well, and yet not be 
foolishly fond and indulgent to them. 

A young woman married to an old man, must behave like 
an old woman. 

All women are good ; good for something, or good for 
nothing. 

A virtuous woman, though ugly, is the ornament of the 

house. 
An obedient wife commands her husband. 



108 SELECT PROVERBS 

A woman is known by her walking and drinking. — Spanish, 

More, I apprehend, may be known of a woman by her talking 
than her " walking." The Spaniards entertain an unfavour- 
able opinion of ladies, who are fond of walking, especially in 
public places. 

A man of straw is worth a woman of gold. 

French. — " Un homme de paille, vaut une femme d'or." 
If this proverb be meant literally, we can only say, it is a very 
ungallant one, especially from so gallant a nation as the French. 
It is an instance of what we had occasion to remark in the 
Introduction, that those countries the most celebrated for love 
and intrigue, are the most severe in their reflections on the 
female sex. 

A woman that loves to be at the window, is like a bunch of 

grapes on the highway. 
A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm. 
A woman's work is never at an end. 
A good wife is the workmanship of a good husband. 
A true friend does sometimes venture to be offensive. 
A woman that paints puts up a bill that she is to be let. 
A woman is to be from her home three times ; when she is 

christened, married, and buried. — Spanish. 

What jealous-pated knaves these Spaniards must be ! A woman 
had better go to a nunnery at once. 

Advise no one to go to the wars, nor to marry. — Spanish* 
A nice wife and a back door do often make a rich man poor. 

— Italian. 
A man's best fortune or his worst is a wife. 
A man would not be alone even in paradise. 
A husband without ability is like a house without a roof. — 

Spanish. 
A lewd bachelor makes a jealous husband. 
A groaning wife, and a grunting horse, never fail their 

master. — Scotch. 

A fair woman, without virtue, is like palled wine. 

A friend that you buy with presents will be bought from 
you. 

An enemy to beauty is a foe to nature. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 109 

A barren sow was never good to pigs. — Scotch. 

Applied to old maids and unfruitful wives, who, having no chil- 
dren of their own, deal harshly to other people's. 

All are good lasses; but where come the ill wives frae ? — 

Scotch. 
A woman conceals what she knows not. 
A lass that has many wooers oft fares the worst. — Scotch. 
A man must ask his wife leave to thrive. 
A sweet and innocent compliance is the cement of love. 
A good occasion for courtship is, when the widow returns 

from the funeral. 

B. 

Bare wails make gadding housewives. 

Beauty will buy no beef. 

Beauty in women is like the flower in spring ; but virtue is 
like the stars of heaven. 

Beauties without fortunes have sweethearts plenty, but hus- 
bands none at all. 

Be a good husband, and you will soon get a penny to spend, 
a penny to lend, and a penny for a friend. 

Before you marry, be sure of a house wherein to tarry. — 
Spanish. — Italian. 

Bachelors' wives and maids' children are always well taught. 

Better wed over the mixon than over the moor. — Cheshire. 

That is, at home or its vicinity, where the parties are known to 
each other, than far off, wiiere they are strangers : mixon is 
the dung and litter in the farm-yard, while the road from 
Chester to London is over the moorlajxd in Staffordshire. It 
is a spark of provincial pride, tojrtduce the gentry to inter- 
marry among themselves, to prolong their own families, and 
perpetuate ancient friendships. 

Better go away longing than loathing. 

Better be half hanged than ill wed. 

Beauty draws more than oxen. 

Beauty is no inheritance. 

By others' faults wise men correct their own. 

L 



110 SELECT PROVERBS 

C. 

Children are uncertain comforts : when little, they make 

parents fools ; when great, mad. 
Choose a wife rather by your ear, than your eye. 
Commend a wedded life,, but keep thyself a bachelor. 

D. 

Delays increase desires, and sometimes extinguish them. 
Discreet women have neither eyes nor ears. 
French. — Lafemme debien n'a ni yeux ni oreilles. 

E. 

Every man can tame a shrew but he that hath her. 
Easy to keep the castle that was never besieged. — Scotch. 
England is the paradise of women, the hell of horses, and 
the purgatory of servants. 

The liberty allowed to women in England, the portion assigned 
by law to widows of their husbands' goods and chattels, and 
the politeness with which all denominations of that sex are in 
general treated, join to establish the truth of the first part of 
the proverb. The furious driving of carmen, coachmen and 
others, give too much colour to the second ; but we trust this 
opprobrium on the character of Englishmen will, shortly, be 
removed by the strong public feeling excited against cruelty 
to animals, and the late acts of the legislature. With respect 
to England being the "purgatory of servants," it may be flatly 
denied — unless it may be some of the cotton manufactories in 
the north. 

Every man can guide an ill wife but he that hath her. — 
Scotch. 

F. 

Fair is not fair, but that which pleaseth. 

Italian. — Non e bello quel' che bello, ma d bello quel' che piace. 
Fire dresses the meat, and not a smart wench.— Spanish. 
Fools are wise men in the affairs of women. 
For whom does the blind man's wife paint herself? — 

Spanish, 



OF ALL NATIONS. Ill 

Far-fetched, and dear bought, is good for the ladies. 

French. — Vache de loin a lait assez. 
Fann'd fire, and forced love, never did well yet. — Scotch. 
Friends got without desert will be lost without cause. 
Friends tie their purse with a cobweb thread. — Italian. 
Friendship is the perfection of love. 
Fat sorrow is better than lean sorrow. 
From many children and little bread, good Lord deliver us! 

— Spanish. 

a. 

Glasses and lasses are brittle ware. — Scotch. 

H. 

Hold your hands off other folks' bairns, till you get some of 
your own. — Scotch. 
Spoken by a girl, when a young man offers to tease her. 

He who is about to marry should consider how it is with his 

neighbours. 
He that hath a wife and children must not sit with his fingers 

in his mouth. 
He who marrieth for love, without money, hath good nights 

and sorry days. — Italian. — Spanish. 
He that loseth his wife, and a farthing, has a great loss of 

his farthing. — Italian. 
He who intrigues with a married woman has his life in 

pledge. 

Spanish. — Quien ama la casada la vida trae emprestada. 

He that tells his wife news is but newly married. 
He who wishes to chastise a fool, get him a wife. — Italian. 
He to whom God gave no sons, the devil gives nephews. — 
Spanish. 

Implying, that those who have no cares of their own, are gene- 
rally oppressed with the cares of others. 

He loves you as a ferret does a rabbit, to make a meal of you. 
l 2 



112 SELECT PROVERBS 

He that is a wise man by day is no fool by night. 

He that marries a widow will often have a dead man's head 

thrown in his dish. — Spanish. 
He who does not honour his wife dishonours himself. — 

Spanish, 
He who marrieth for wealth sells his liberty. ' 
He that takes not up a pin slights his wife. 
He that woos a maid, must come seldom in her sight ; 
He that woos a widow, must woo her day and night. 
He that kisseth his wife in the market-place, shall have 

plenty to teach him. 
Hast thou a mind to quarrel with thy wife? bid her bring 

water to thee in the sunshine. — Spanish. 

Then swear it is dirty, from the motes which will appear in the 
clearest water. 

Hearts may agree, though heads differ. 

Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all. — Italian, 



If marriages are made in heaven, some have few friends 

there. — Scotch. 
It is in vain to watch a really bad woman. — Italian. 
It is a soure reek when the good wife dings the good man. 

— Scotch. 

A man in my country coming out of his house, with tears on his 
cheeks, was asked the occasion. He said, there was a " soure 
reek" in the house; but, upon farther inquiry, it was found 
the wife had beaten him. — Kelly. 

It is a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that 

never grumbles. 
If the eye do not admire, the heart will not desire. — Italian. 
It is in vain to kick after you have once put on fetters. 
It is a sweet sorrow to buy a termagant wife. 
If all the world were ugly, deformity would be no monster. 
In love's wars, he who flyeth is conqueror. 
If Jack's in love, he's no judge of JilVs beauty 



OF ALL NATIONS. 113 

It's a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock. 

— Italian. 
If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid. 
It is better to marry a quiet fool than a witty scold. 
If one will not, another will ; so are all maidens married. 
If thou desirest a wife, choose her on Saturday rather than 

on a Sunday. — Spanish. 

That is, in her deshabille, 
It's hard to wive and thrive in a year. 

K. 

Keep the feast till the feast-day — Scotch. 

King Arthur did not violate the refuge of a woman. — Welch. 

That is, left her the freedom of her tongue, and would not beat 
her for speaking ! 

Kissing goes by favour. 

Kissing is cry'd down to shaking of hands, — Scotch. 

Alluding to a proclamation that nobody should kiss hereafter, 
but only shake hands. This piece of prudery, it is probable, 
was in the days of John Knox. 

L. 

Ladies will sooner pardon w r ant of sense than want of 

manners. 
Likeness begets love, yet proud men hate one another. 

Like blood, like good, and like age, make the happiest mar- 
riages. 

Long-tongued wives go long with bairn. — Scotch. 
Love me little, love me long. 
Latin. — Nihil vehemens durabile. 

Love and lordship like no fellowship. 

Love may gain all, time destroys all, and death ends all.— 
Italian. 

Love and pride stock Bedlam. 

Love is the loadstone of love. 



114 SELECT PROVERBS 

Love, knavery and necessity, make men good orators. 
Love is without prudence, and anger without counsel. — 
Italian. 

11 1 could not love, I'm sure, 
One who in love were wise."— Cowley. 

Love can neither be bought nor sold; its only price is love. 
— Italian. 

Love is as warm among cottagers as courtiers. 



M. 

Many a time have I got a wipe with a towel, but never a 

daub with a dishclout before. — Scotch. 
The answer of a saucy girl, when teased by an unworthy suitor. 
Marriage is honourable, but housekeeping chargeable. 
Many kiss the child for the nurse's sake. 
Marry your sons when you will, your daughters when you 

can. 
Marry your daughters betimes, lest they marry themselves. 

— Spanish. 

Marry, marry ! and who is to manage the house ? — Spanish. 

Said of foolish young persons, who talk of marriage before they 
are capable of undertaking the cares and expenses of wedlock. 

Marry in haste and repent at leisure. 

Man is fire, and woman tow ; the devil comes and sets them 

in a blaze. — Spanish. 
Maids want nothing but husbands, and when they have got 

them, they want every thing. 
Many an one for land, takes a fool by the hand. 
Many blame the wife for their own thriftless life.— Scotch. 
My son's my son till he hath got him a wife, 
My daughter's my daughter all days of her life. 

N. 
Ne'er seek a wife till ye ken what to do with her. — Scotch. 
IMext to no wife, a good wife is best. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 115 

Never was a prison fair, or a mistress foul. 
French. — II 11'y a point de belle prison, ni de laides amours. 

Novelty is always handsome. — Italian. 

Nineteen nay-says of a maiden are half a grant. — Scotch. 

Not so ugly as to be frightful, nor so beautiful as to kill. — 

Spanish. 
No woman is ugly when she is drest. 

O. 

Observe the face of the wife to know the husband's cha- 
racter. — Spanish. 
Old women's gold is not ugly. 

A wipe for those who are on the scent after old dowagers with 
heavy purses. 

One love drives out another. 

One year of joy, another of comfort, and all the rest of 

content. 

A marriage wish. 

P. 

Paint and patches give offence to the husband, hopes to the 

gallant. 
Play, women and wine, undo men laughing. 
Prettiness make no pottage. 

S. 
She was a neat dame that washed the ass's face. 
She that is born a beauty is half married. 
She that has an ill husband shows it in her dress. 
Smoke, raining into the house, and a scolding wife, will 

make a man run out of doors. 
Saith Solomon the wise, " A good wife's a good prize." 
She who is born handsome is born married. 

Italian. — Che nasce bella, nasce maritata. 

Since you vvrong'd me, you never had a good thought of me. 



116 SELECT PROVERBS 

Sometimes you are like a dog and cat, and sometimes like 

the monkey and his clog. 
She spins a good web, who brings up her son well. — Spanish. 
She is well married, who has neither mother-in-law nor 

sister-in-law by her husband. — Spanish. 

In Spain, they entertain no great opinion of this class of kindred. 



Take heed, girl, of the promise of a man; for it will run 
like a crab. — Spanish. 
That is, backwards. 

The woman who has a bad husband makes a confidant of her 
maid. — Spanish. 

The society of ladies is a school of politeness. 

The rich widow cries with one eye, and rejoices with the 

other. — Spanish. 
The fairer the hostess, the fouler the reckoning. 
French. — Belle hostesse, c'est un mal pour la bourse. 
The remedy for love is — land between. — Spanish. 
To a foolish woman, a violin is more pleasing than a distaff. 

— Italian. 

There is no better looking-glass than a true friend. 

The first wife is matrimony, the second company, and the 

third heresy. — Italian. 
The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives. 

This is one of the ** learned aphorisms," which Mr. D'Israelsays 
the husbands of former days had inscribed on their treneners, 
to remind them of the sort of policy necessary to govern their 
dames. The same elegant writer informs us that, much later 
even than the reign of Elizabeth, our ancestors had proverbs 
always before them, on every thing which had room for a piece 
of advice on it. They had them painted on their tapestries, 
stamped on the most ordinary utensils, on the blades of their 
knives, the borders of their plates, and " conned them out of 
goldsmith's rings." The usurer, in Robert Green's " Groat's 
worth of Wit," compressed all his philosophy into the circle of 
his ring, having learnt sufficient Latin to understand the pro- 
verbial motto of, " Tu tibi cura." 

The cunning wife makes her husband her apron. — Spanish. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 117 

The more women look in their glasses, the less they look to 
their houses. 

Three women and a goose make a market. — Italian, 

To preserve a friend three things are required ; to honour 
him present, praise him absent, and assist him in his neces- 
sities. — Italian. 

The mother knows best whether the child be like the father. 

There is many a good wife that can't sing and dance well. 

There is one good wife in the country, and every man thinks 
he hath her. 

There is no mischief in the world done, but a woman is 
always one. 

W. 

Women grown bad are worse than men ; because the cor- 
ruption of the best turns to the worst. 

Women and children's wishes are the ambition only of weak 
men. 

Women and wine intoxicate the young and old. — Italian. 
" Beauty, though dangerous, hath strange power 1" 

Wife and children are bills of charges. 

Who feels love in his breast, feels a spur in his limbs. — 
Italian. 

When a couple are newly married, the first month is honey- 
moon, or smick smack ; the second is hither and thither ; 
the third is thwick- thwack; the fourth, the devil take them 
that brought thee and I together. 

When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the 
window. 

When the good man's from home, the good wife's table is 
soon spread. 

Who has a bad wife, has purgatory for a neighbour. — 
Italian. 

Who weds ere he be wise, shall die ere he thrives. 
Wine and wenches empty men's purses. 
Women must have their wills while they live, because they 
make none when they die. 



US SELECT PROVERBS 

Women are wise on a sudden, fools on premeditation. — 

Italian* 
Women in mischief are wiser than men. 
Who hath a scold hath sorrow to his sops. 
Who more ready to call her neighbour — scold, than the 

greatest scold in the parish ? 
While the tall maid is stooping, the little one hath swept the 

house. 
Women laugh when they can, and weep when they will. 
Works and not words are the proof of love. — Spanish. 
Who takes an eel by the tail, and a woman by her word, 

may say, that he holds nothing. — Italian. 

Y. 

You may know a foolish woman by her finery. 

Italian. — Femme sotte, se cognoit a la cotte. 
You need not marry : you have troubles enough without it. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 119 



HEALTH AND DIET. 



A man has often more trouble to digest meat than to get 

meat. 
A rich mouthful, a heavy groan. — Spanish. 

Alluding to the gout and other distempers produced by epicurean 
living. 

A glutton was never generous to others. — Gaelic. 

A good surgeon must have an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and 

a lady's hand. 
An old physician, a young lawyer. 

The first is supposed to be more skilful, from greater expe- 
rience ; and the last will be most zealous in the cause of his 
client from a desire to distinguish himself. 

After dinner, sit awhile ; 
After supper, walk a mile. 

This old distich is not applicable to the fashion of the present 
day, when we often sup at midnight, or after ; it might do in 
the olden time, when our ancestors breakfasted at six in the 
morning, dined at eleven, and supped at four or five o'clock in 
the afternoon : a walk in the cool of the evening, would then 
be conducive to health ! 

Ad egg, and to bed 

B. 

Better a good dinner than a fine coat. — French. 

A Burgundian proverb, which one would suppose of English 
extraction. The Burgundians are great gormandisers and 
shabby dressers : they are commonly said to have " bowels of 
silk and velvet ;" that is, all their silk and velvet go to their 
inside. 

Better wait on the cook than the doctor. — Scotch. 



120 SELECT PROVERBS 

Better lose a supper than have a hundred physicians.— 
Spanish. 

Better belly burst than good drink lost. 
This is John Bull's own ; it is clearly of native growth. It 
affords a curious contrast with the preceding one from the 
Spanish, and strikingly illustrates the characteristic difference 
of the two nations. 

Bread that sees, wine that sparkles, cheese that weeps. 

Be long sick, that ye may be soon hale — Scotch. 

Better half a loaf than no bread. 

Bitter pills may have blessed effects. — Scotch. 

Bread at pleasure, drink by measure. — French. 

Bread of a day, ale of a month, and wine of a year. 

G. 
Children and chickens must be always picking. 

D. * 

Drink wine and have the gout ; drink none and'have it too. 
Diet cures more than the lancet. 
Spanish. — Mas cura la dieta, que la lanceta. 
In two things men most commonly show their folly : going to 
law, and neglect of their health. One ruins their fortunes, the 
other deprives them of the means of enjoying them. With 
respect to health, the proverb is a good recipe, but it ought to 
have included exercise. Diet and exercise are the two physi- 
cians of Nature, and by a due attention to them, ninety-nine 
diseases out of a hundred may be averted or cured. Medicine 
itself is but the quack of these natural doctors, and attempts, 
by a shorter but artificial process, to do what regimen alone 
would accomplish. Those who live high should exercise freely. 
The bon vivant may rely on the advice of an eminent physician 
to the duchess of Portsmouth ; " You must eat less ; take more 
exercise; take physic ; or be sick." Over-feeding is the chief 
cause of those nervous affections and irritable humours, which 
first make men mad, and then drive them to self-destruction. 
It is a pity the nature of the animal economy is not more gene- 
rally understood. Thousands are miserable for the want of 
some little Manual on the preservation of health. Children 
suffer as well as grown persons ; and indulgent but ignorant 
parents ruin the constitutions of their offspring by improper 
treatment and nursing. It is hoped a hint on this suhject will 
be taken, by those endeavouring to benefit the public and 
themselves by cheap publications. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 121 

E. 

Eat little at dinner, less at supper, sleep aloft, and you will 

live long. — Spanish. 
Eat weel is drink weel's brother. — Scotch. 
Enough is as good as a feast. 

F. 

Fish must swim thrice — namely, once in the water, once in 
the sauce, and a third time in wine in the stomach. 

G. 

Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark. 
God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks. 
God cures and the doctor takes the fee. 

H. 

He who hath good health is young ; and he is rich who owes 

nothing. 
He has a hole under his nose that all his money runs into. 
He that would live for aye, must eat sage in May. 
He that wants health wants every thing. 

French.— Qui n'a sante n'a rien. 
Health without money is half a sickness. — Italian. 
Health and mirth create beauty. 

Spanish.— Salud y alegria belleza cria. 

One can hardly conceive a person unhandsome, who possesses 
health and cheerfulness. 

Health is better than wealth. 

Hunger is the best sauce. 

Italian. — La fame e il miglior intingolo. 

Hunger and expectation make a man mad. — Spariish. 

Hungry men think the cook lazy. 

Hunger and cold deliver a man up to the enemy. — Spanish. 

Hunger cannot bear contradiction. 

M 



122 SELECT PROVERBS 

Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings. 
French. — A la faim il n' y a point de mauvais pain. 
It seems wisely provided, that as hunger increases, and of course 
requires more food to appease it, the palate becomes propor- 
tionately less discriminative. Hence, Juvenal observes, 

*' Thus much to the kind rural gods we owe, 
Who pity'd suffering mortals long ago ; 
When on harsh acorns hungrily they fed, 
And gave 'em nicer palates, better bread." 

I. 

If the doctor cures, the sun sees it ; but if he kills, the earth 

hides it. — Scotch. 
If it were not for the belly, the back might wear gold. 
It is easier to fill a glutton's belly than his eye. 
It is a great pleasure to eat, and have nothing to pay. 

Spanish.— Gran placer, no escotar y comer. 
If physic do not work, prepare for the kirk. 

M. 
Medicines are not meant to live on. 

O. 

Of all meat in the world, drink goes the best down. 

Of wine the middle, of oil the top, and of honey the bottom, 

is best. 
One hour's sleep before midnight, is worth two after. 

A more wholesome, if not a truer maxim, than that of Erasmus : 
" Nunquam dulcior somnus, quam post exortum solem." 
Often and a little eating makes a man fat. 

It is on this system our pugilists are trained for their rencontres. 
They eat often and sparingly, and take moderate rest and 
exercise between each meal. By this simple process, the wind 
is strengthened, a corkiness and elasticity of motion acquired, 
and the whole frame invigorated, which enables them to give 
and take a great deal of hammering, and, also, speedily recover 
from their bruises. It is an admirable system for those who 
wish to renovate a constitution, weakened by too much indul- 
gence. 



OF ALL NATIONS; 123 

P. 

Physicians rarely take medicine. — Italian. 
Nor lawyers go to law— two hints not unworthy of attention. 

Plenty makes dainty. — Scotch. 

S. 
Sickness is felt, but health not at all. 

T. 

Temperance, employment, and a cheerful spirit, are the 

great preservers of health. 
That is not always good in the maw that is sweet in the 

mouth. 
The difference between the poor man and the rich is, that 

the poor walks to get meat for his stomach, the rich a 

stomach for his meat. 
The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry 

every bitter thing is sweet. 
The morning to the mountain, the evening to the fountain. 

Italian.— La mattina al monte, e la sera al fonte. 
The choleric drinks, the melancholic eats, the phlegmatic 



The belly hath no ears. 

Latin.— Venter non habet aures. 
The nearer the bone, the sweeter the flesh. 
The head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm. 
They who would be young when they are old, must be old 

when they are young. 
To a full belly all meat is bad. — Italian. 
The epicure puts his purse into his belly, and the miser his 

belly into his purse. 
The first dish pleaseth all. 
The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. 

Merryman. 



124 SELECT PROVERBS 

'Tis good to walk till the bloom appears on the cheek, but 

not tHe sweat on the brow. — Spanish. 
Two ill meals make the third a glutton. 

W. 

We are usually the best men, when in the worst health. 
"When bread is wanting, oaten cakes are excellent. — Spanish. 
Who sups well, sleeps well. 
Italian. — Chi ben cena, ben dorma. 

With respect to the gout, the physician is but a lout. — 

Spanish. 
Who steals an old man's supper does him no harm. 
Wine wears no breeches. — French. 

It usually loosens the tongue, and gives the liberty of speech. 
For this reason, ladies generally withdraw when the wine 
comes on the table, not choosing to be present with such an 
indecent guest. 

Wine is a turncoat ; first a friend, then an enemy. 

Y. 

You have lost your own stomach and found a dog's. 

You dig your grave with your teeth. 

You cairt eat your cake and have your cake. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 125 



HUSBANDRY AND WEATHER. 



If the grass grow in Janiveer, 

It grows the worse for't all the year. 

On Candlemas-day, throw candle and candlestick away. 
All the months in the year curse a fair February. 
March in January. January in March, I fear. 
March winds and May sun, make clothes white and maids 

dun. 
April showers bring forth May flowers. 
"When April blows his horn, it's good both for hay and corn. 
April and May are the key of the whole year. 
A hot May, a fat churchyard. 
September blow soft, till the fruit's in the loft. 

Good October a good blast, 

To blow the hog acorn and mast. 

NoTember take flail, let ships no more sail. 
When the wind is in the West, 
The w r eather is at the best ; 
When the wind is in the East, 
It is good for neither man nor beast ; 
When the wind is in the South, 
It blows the bait into the fishes' mouth. 

No weather is ill, if the wind be still. 

Drought never bred dearth in England. 

A just observation, when applied to our " weeping climate;" 
for though in such years the straw be short, the grain is good 
and heavy. 

After a famine in the stall, 
Comes a famine in the hall. — Somersetshire. 
m 3 



126 SELECT PROVERBS 

An evening red, and a morning grey, is a sign of a fair day. 

The French say, " Le rouge soir, et blanc matin, font rejouir le 
pelerin." A red evening and a white morning rejoice the pil- 
grim. A proverb I have never observed to fail. 

As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens. 

This rule in gardening never forget: 
" To sow dry and set wet." 

Good husbandry is good divinity. — Italian, 
Calm weather in June, sets corn in tune. 

If the first of July be rainy weather, 

'Twill rain more or less for forty days together. 

By the correction of the calendar, in the reign of George II., 
St. Swithin'sday is the fifteenth of July. This circumstance 
afforded much amusement to Horace Walpole, who used to 
ridicule the soothsayers and observers of particular days ; say- 
ing it was not likely that St. S within, or any other saint, would 
accommodate themselves to English acts of parliament. With 
the exception, however, of the present year, St. Swithin has 
rarely failed in his annual libation. The origin of the proverb 
is a monkish legend. In the year 865, St. Swithin, bishop of 
Winchester, to which rank he was raised by king Ethelwolfe 
the Dane, dying, he was canonized by the pope. He was 
singular for desiring to be buried in the open church-yard, and 
not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with other 
bishops, which request was complied with ; but the monks, 
on his being canonized, taking it into their head that it was dis- 
graceful for the saint to be in open church-yard, resolved to 
move his body into the choir, which was to be done, with 
solemn procession, on the fifteenth of July. It rained, how- 
ever, so violently on that day, and for forty days succeeding, 
as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside 
their design as heretical and blasphemous ; and, instead, they 
erected a chapel over his grave, at which many miracles are 
said to have been wrought. 

A dry summer near made a dear peck. — Scotch. 
Corn and horn go together : when corn is cheap, cattle are 
not dear. 

A cherry year — a merry year, 

A plum year — a dumb year. 

The third of April, 

Comes in the cuckoo and nightingale. 

A long harvest and little corn. 
Sow wheat in dirt, and rye in dust. 



OF ALL NATIONS'. 127 

A bushel of March dust is a thing, 
Worth the ransom of a king. 

Ungland, consisting chiefly of clay land, a dry March makes them 
bear abundant crops of corn : therefore, if in that month the 
weather is so dry as to make the roads dusty, the country will 
be benefited to the amount of a king's ransom, which is no 
great sum, if it do not exceed that paid to the emperor of Ger- 
many for the ransom of Richard I.— namely, one hundred 
thousand pounds. 

Winter never rots in the sky. 

No dearth but begins in the horsemanger. 

If oats fail, there is generally a bad crop of every other sort of 
grain : but the saying was more strictly true, when oatmeal 
was more generally the food of the lower classes in England. 

So many mists in March you see, 

So many frosts in May will be. 
Change of weather is the discourse of fools. 
A snow year, a rich year.- — Italian. 

When the fern is as high as a spoon, 

You may sleep an hour at noon. 

'Till St. James's day be come and gone, 

You may have hops, or you may have none. 
Kide a horse and a mare on the shoulders ; an ass and a 
mule on the buttocks. — Spanish. 

If the partridge had but the woodcock's thigh, 
It would be the best bird that ever did fly. 

At Twelfth Day, the days are lengthened a cock's stride. 

Make the vine poor, and it will make you rich. 
Prune off the branches. 

A field requires three things ; fair weather, good seed, and 

a good husbandman. — Italian. 
Set trees poor, and they will grow rich ; set them rich, and 

they will grow poor. 

Remove them always out of a barren, into a more fertile soil : 
the contrary would be like a man passing from a rich to a poor 
diet, under which he would soon exhibit a very meagre ap- 
pearance. 



128 SELECT PROVERBS 



ENGLISH LOCAL PROVERBS. 



A Plymouth cloak. — Devonshire. 

A bludgeon, walking stick, or staff: the usual cloak or greatcoat 
of a sailor. As Plymouth is chiefly inhabited by seafaring 
persons, the proverb bas been fathered on that place, though 
it belongs as much to Portsmouth, Hull, Chatham, or any other 
seaport. 

As mad as the baiting bull of Stamford. — Lincolnshire. 

William, earl Warren, lord of this town, in the time of king John, 
standing upon the walls of the castle at Stamford, saw two bulls 
in the meadow fighting for a cow, till all the butchers' dogs 
pursued one of them, maddened by the noise and multitude, 
quite through the town. This fight so pleased the earl, that he 
gave all those meadows, called the castle meadows, where first 
this bull-duel began, for a common to the butchers of the town 
(after the first grass was eaten), on condition they annually 
find a mad bull to be baited, the day six weeks before Christ- 
mas-day. 

A Barnwell ague. — Cambridgeshire. 

A nameless disease. Barnwell is a village near Cambridge, 
famous for the residence of ladies of pleasure attending the 
University.— Grose. 

A Lambeth doctor. — Surrey. 

The archbishop of Canterbury has, it is said, the power of con- 
ferring the degree of doctor of divinity ; this was sometimes 
done as a matter of favour, without examination ; like the 
honours occasionally conferred by some of the Northern 
Universities. 

As wise as a man of Gotham. — Nottinghamshire. 

Gotham lies in the south-west angle of Nottinghamshire, and is 
noted for nothing so much as the story of its wise men, who 
attempted to hedge in the cuckoo. At Court-hill, in this parish, 
Grose says, there is a bush that still bears the name of cuckoo- 
bush ; and there is an ancient book full of the blunders of the 
Gothamites. Whence a man of Gotham is a periphrasis for a 
simpleton. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 129 

A cockney. — London, 
A very ancient nickname for a citizen of London. Ray says, 
an interpretation of it is, a young person coaxed, or cockered, 
delicately brought up, so as to be unable to bear the least 
hardship. Another, a person ignorant of the terms of rural 
economy ; such as a young citizen, who, having been ridiculed 
for calling the neighing of a horse, laughing, and told that was 
called neighing, next morning, to show instruction was not 
thrown away upon him, exclaimed, how that cock neighs! 
whence the citizens of London have ever since been called 
cock-neighs, or cockneys. 
Archbishop Nares, in his "Glossary," derives the term from 
cookery. Le pais de cocagne, in French, means a country of 
good cheer ; in old French, coquaine. Cocagna, in Italian, has 
the same meaning. Both may be derivtd from Coquina ; the 
famous country desciibed by "Balthazar Bonifacius, " where 
the hills were made of sugar candy 1" The cockney men- 
tioned by Shakspeare, appears to have been a cook, as she 
was making a pie. 

•■ Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she 
put them into the paste alive." — Lear ii. 4. 
Yet it appears to denote simplicity, since the fool adds — 
M 'Twas her brother, that in pure kindness to his horse, but- 
tered his hay." 
Whatever may be the origin of this term, we at least learn from 
the following verse, attributed to Hugh Bigot, earl of Norfolk, 
that it was in use in the time of king Henry II. 
* s Was 1 in my castle at Bungay, 
Fast by the'river Waveney, 
I would not care for the king of Cockney :" 
i. e. the king of London. 
The king of the cocknies occurs among the regulations for the 
sports and shows formerly held in the Middle Temple, on 
Childermas-day, when he' had his officers, a marshal, con- 
stable, &c. 

A man of Kent. 

All the inhabitants of Kent, east of the river Medway, are called 
" Men of Kent," from the story of their having retained their 
ancient privileges, particularly "those of gavel-kind, by meet- 
ing William the Conqueror, atSwanscomb-bottom ; each man, 
besides his arms, carrying a green bough in his hand : by this 
means concealing their numbers, under the appearance of a 
moving wood. The rest of the inhabitants of the county are 
styled " Kentish men." 

All goeth down Gutter Lane. — London. 

The right spelling is Guthurn Lane ; a place formerly inhabited 
by goldbeaters, and leading out of Cheapside, east of Foster 
Lane. The proverb is applied to those who spend all in 
drunkenness and gluttony, mere " belly gods :" Guttur being 
Latin for the throat. 



130 SELECT PROVERBS 

A Yorkshire way-bit. 

It should be a wee-bit ; wee, in the Yorkshire and northern dia- 
lects, signifies little. It means an overplus, not accounted in 
the reckoning, which sometimes proves as mucn as the rest. 
Ask a countryman in Yorkshire the distance o a particular 
place, his answer will generally be — so many mi es and a wee- 
bit ; which wee-bit is often larger than the mi.es reckoned. 
" He hath but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard." 
Merry Wives of Windsor, 1. 4. 

As fine as Kerton or Crediton spinning. — Devonshire. 

As a proof of the fineness of Crediton spinning, it is related that 
one hundred and forty threads of woollen yarn, spun in that 
town, were drawn together through the eye of a tailor's needle ; 
which needle and threads were to be seen for many years in 
Watling Street, London, in the shop of one Dunscombe, at the 
sign of the Golden Bottle, The discoveries, however, of Watt 
and Arkwright, have enabled the manufacturers of the present 
day far to excel ancient Crediton in the fineness of spinning. 

A Welch bait.— -Welch. 

A short stop, but no refreshment. Such baits are frequently 
given by the natives of the principality to their kefi'els, or 
horses, particularly after climbing a hill. . 

A Scarborough warning. — Yorkshire. 

That is — none at all, but a sudden surprise. Alluding to an event 
in 1557 ; when Thomas Stafford seized on Scarborough Castle, 
before the townsmen had the least notice of his approach. 

A Kent Street distress. — Surrey. 

A mode of distress formerly practised on the poor inhabitants of 
Kent Street ; on non-payment, the rent-collectors took away 
the doors of the defaulters. 

As lame as St. Giles's, Cripplegate. — London. 

St. Giles was by birth an Athenian, of noble extraction and great 
estate : becoming lame, he, for his greater mortification, re- 
fused to be cured. He is deemed the patron of cripples, and 
his churches are mostly in the suburbs. Cripplegate was so 
called before the Conquest, from cripples begging there, for 
which they plead custom, from the time the lame man begged 
alms of Peter and John, at the gate of the Temple. 

A Scottish man, and a Newcastle grindstone, travel all the 
world over. — Northumberland. 

All Ilchester is gaol. — Somersetshire. 
Intimating that the people of the town are as hard-hearted as 
their goaler; an imputation falsified by some recent trans- 
actions. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 131 

A squire of Alsatia. — London. 
A spendthrift, or sharper, inhabiting places formerly privileged 
from arrest. Such were White-Friars, and the Mint, in South- 
wark; the former called UppeT, the latter, Lower Alsatia, 
Sir Walter Scott has perpetuated the memory of these once 
noted places, in his " Fortunes of Nigel." 

A Drury Lane vestal. — London. 

A London jury ; hang half, and save half. — London. 

This was intended to reflect on the tender mercies of a London 
jury, as aiming at more despatch than justice, and acquitting 
half and hanging half. Such a mode of administering j astice, 
however, has greatly changed, as any one may satisfy himself 
by an hour's attendance at the Old Bailey. 

A knight of Cales, a gentleman of Wales, and a laird of the 

north countree. 
A yeoman of Kent, with his yearly rent, will buy them out 

all three. — Kent. 

The knights of Cales were made by Robert earl of Essex, a. d 
1596, to the number of sixty ; many of whom were of slender 
fortunes, though of great birth. The Northern iairds, and the 
nurnerousness and penury of Welch gentlemen, need no illus- 
tration. Yeomen were independent farmers, occupying their 
own land, killing their own mutton, and wearing thefieeces of 
their own sheep, spun in their houses. Those of Kent were 
famous for their riches. 

B. 

Bristol milk. — Somersetshire. 

That is — sherry, a Spanish white wine. The true name of this 
wine is sherris, which it derives from Xeres, a town in the pro- 
vince of Andalusia, where it is made. 

Banbury veal, cheese, and cakes. — Oxfordshire. 

The cheese of this place was remarkable for its richness and fine- 
ness, so long back as the time of Shakspeare, who makes one 
of his characters in Henry IV. call Falstaff, a " Banbury 
cheese." Banbury cakes are also excellent, as well as veal. 

C. 

Canterbury is the higher rack, but Winchester is the better 
manger. — Hampshire. 

Edington, bishop of Winchester, was the author of this saying, 
rendering it the reason of his refusal to be removed to Can- 
terbury, though preferred thereto. For though Canterbury be 
graced" with a higher honour, Winchester is the wealthier see. 



132 PROVERBS 

Cant-ihridgia petit a la. 

That is, as Fuller expounds it, either in respect of their com- 
mons, all : e mess having equal share; or in respect 
of extraordinary : r in respect of degree, 
all of the same if .2 iS fellows well met." 

Congletai bears, — Cheshire. 

Some years ago. the : i.gleton having taken the old 

church Bible, or had it given to him, as his perquisite, sold it 
to buy a bear, in order to bait him. From this, as the story- 
tells, proceeds the name of Congleton bears : which will pre- 
Kntty se: the town about his ears, if a stranger happen to 
mention it, 

D. 

Des eh, 

The deril gave his daughter in marriage ; 
Andj by a eodieil to bis will, 

He added Helvoet and the Brill. — Kent. 

.lib thrown at the innkeepers cf these places, in re- 
n for the many i~v \ - 1 on travellers, as well 

nati- applicable to most seaports. 

Dover-court, all speakers and no hearers. — Essex. 

[ ] er-court is a village about three miles west of Harwich, to 
which its church is the mother church. Here a court is 
annually held. w\ fly of seamen, the irre- 

gula ] prevail. 



E. 

E.den hole wants filling. — Derbyshire. 

: 1 a great liar who boasts of his wonderful exploits. 

Essex lions. 

: it numbers of which are brought alive in carts to the 
London market. 



Lang and draw. 

hear the c jford law. — Devonshire. 

Lidford is a little and poor, but ancient corporation, in Devon- 
shire, with large privileges, where a court of Stannaries was 
formerly kept. The proverb is supposed to allude to some 



OF ALL NATIONS, 133 

absurd determination made by the mayor and corporation, 
who were formerly but mean and illiterate persons. 
" I oft have heard of Lydford law, 

How in the morning they hange and draw, 

And sit in judgment after ; 
At first I wondered at it much, 
But since I find the reason such 
As yt deserves no laughter." 

Vide Westcot's History of Devonshire, 



G. 

Grantham gruel ! nine grits and a gallon of water. — Lin- 
colnshire. 

Poor gruel, indeed ! bearing very hard on the liberality of the 
good people of Grantham. 

Go to Battersea to be cut for the simples. — London. 

The origin of this saying, which is applied to people not over- 
stocked with wit, appears to be this. Formerly, the London 
apothecaries used to make a summer excursion to Battersea, 
to see the medicinal herbs, called simples, which abounded in 
the neighbourhood, cut at the proper season. Hence, it be- 
came proverbial to tell a foolish person to go to Battersea to 
be cut for a simple, the equivoque being on the word simple, 
alias simpleton. 

H. 

He has the Newcastle burr in his throat. — Northumberland. 

The people of Newcastle, Morpeth, and their environs, have a 
guttural pronunciation, like that called in Leicestershire warl- 
ing, none of them being able to pronounce the letter R. 

Hertfordshire clubs, and clouted shoon. 

An ancient fling at the rusticity of Hertfordshire yeomen and 
farmers. Club is an old term for a booby. Clouted shoon is 
part of the dress of a husbandman and farmer ; and, as Fuller 
observes, being worn by the tenants, enables their landlords 
to wear Spanish leather boots and pumps ! 

He has been sworn at Highgate. — Middlesex. 

Alluding to an ancient custom formerly observed in this village, 
when the landlord of the Horns, and other public houses, used 
to swear all the lower orders of passengers upon a pair cf 
horns stuck on a stick. The substance of their oath was, that 
they should not kiss the maid when they could kiss the mis- 
tress ; nor drink small beer when they could get strong ; with 
divers like prohibitions ; to all of which was the saving clause 
of— unless you like her, or it, best. 



134 SELECT PROVERBS 

He is only fit for Ruffian's hall. — London, 

West Smithfield, now the horse-market, was formerly called 
Ruffian's hall, where bullies and fighters met casually, and 
otherwise, to try masteries with sword and buckler. " More,*' 
says Fuller, " were frighted than hurt, hurt than killed, there ■ 
with, it being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the knee." 

He was born within the sound of Bow-bell. — London. 

He is esteemed a cockney who is born within hearing of the 
bell at Bow Church. Stow informs us, a citizen, named John 
Dunn, gave two tenements to maintain the ringing of Bow- 
bell, every night at nine o'clock, as a signal for the apprentices 
and servants to leave off work. 

He has studied at Whittington's college. — London. 

That is, has been confined in Newgate, which was rebuilt a. d. 
1423, according to the will of sir Richard Whittington, by his 
executors. 

He may remove Mort-stone. — Devonshire. 

A saying of one who is master of his wife. Mort-stone is a huge 
rock that blocks up the entrance into Mort's Bay in this 
county, which, it is fabled, cannot be removed but by a man 
thoroughly master of his wife. 

He is summoned before the mayor of Halgaver. — Cornwall. 

A jocular and imaginary court, before which such persons are 
presented as are v dirty and slovenly in their dress : where 
j udgment, in formal terms, is given against them, and executed 
more in derision than hurt of their persons. 

He looks as if he had lived on Tewksbury mustard. — Glou- 
cestershire. 

Tewksbury is famous for the hot and biting qualities of its mus- 
tard ; and any peevish or snappish person, or one having a cross, 
fierce, or ill-natured countenance, is supposed to have lived 
upon it. 

He is driving his hogs over Swarston bridge. — Derbyshire. 

Said when a man snores in his sleep. In the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, they say, " He is driving his pigs to market I" 



I. J. 

If Skiddaw hath a cap, 

Scruffel wots full well of that. — Cumberland. 

These are two high hills, one in England, and one in Scotland, 
so near, that what happens to one will not be long ere it reach 
the other : if one be capped with clouds and mists, it will not 



OF ALL NATIONS. 135 

be long ere it rains on the other. Hence, certain mutual 
sympathies between the two countries were deduced : so that 
when Scotland, in the last century, felt its allegiance to Eng- 
land doubtful, and the French sent an expedition there, this 
saying was revived, to show the identity of interest between 
both nations. 

If Poole was a fish-pool, and the men of Poole fish, 
There'd be a pool for the devil, and fish for his dish. 
— Dorsetshire. 

When this satirical distich was written, Poole was not that place 
of trade and respectability it now is. 

John Bull. — Passim. 

A name often applied to the English nation, from a supposed 
resemblance between the youthful and sturdy qualities of the 
people of England and a well known animal. It was first used 
by Dean Swift, in his satirical history of Europe, under which 
appellation Englishmen are ludicrously personified. 

L. 

Lancashire witches. 

So called from the bewitching charms of the fair dames in Lan- 
cashire, for which they have been celebrated for centuries. 

Like Banbury tinkers, that in mending one hole make three. 
— Northamptonshire. 

M. 

Measter's Yorkshire too. — Middlesex. 
Founded on the well-known story of the Yorkshire ostler. 



O. 

Oxford knives, London wives. — Oxfordshire, 

Ironically insinuating that their appearance bxceeds their real 
worth ; that the Oxford knives were better to look at than to 
cut with, and that the London wives had more beauty and good 
breeding than housewifely qualities. 



P. 

Paddington fair.— London. 

An execution at Tyburn, which place was in or near the parish 
of Paddington. 



136 SELECT PROVERBS 

Putney. — Surrey. 

According to vulgar tradition, says Grose, the churches of Put- 
ney and Fulham were built by two sisters, who had but one 
hammer between them, which they interchanged by throwing 
it across the river, on a word agreed between them ; those on 
the Surrey side made use of the word Put-it-nigh ! those on 
the opposite shore, Heave-it full-home ! whence the churches, 
and from them the villages, were called Put-nigh and Full- 
home, since corrupted to Putney and Fulham. 



S. 

She hath given Lawton gate the clap. — Cheshire. 

Said of one with child, and going to London to conceal it. 
Lawton is the way to London from several parts of Cheshire. 

Stabbed with a Bridport dagger. — Dorsetshire. 

That is, hanged. A great quantity of hemp is grown about this 
town ; and, on account of its superior qualities, Fuller says, 
there was an ancient statute, now disused, that the cables for 
the royal navy should be made thereabouts. 

St. Giles's breed ; fat, ragged, and saucy. — London. 

Ragged and saucy the inhabitants of this parish still are, but 
their embonpoint has vanished in ft blue ruin." 

Stopford law; no stake no draw. — Cheshire. 

Such only as contribute to the liquor are expected to drink. 
Applied also to wagers, when, if nothing is staked or put down, 
nothing is allowed to be taken up. 



T. 

The nun of Sion with the friar of Sheen. — London. 
Although the river Thames runs between these two monasteries, 
it is a tradition, the above holy personages had a love affair, 
by means of a tunnel or subterraneous communication. 

To take Hector's cloak. — Northumberland. 

That is, to deceive a friend who confides in his fidelity. "When 
Thomas Percy, earl of Northumberland, was defeated in the 
rebellion he had raised against queen Elizabeth, he hid himself 
in the house of one Hector Armstrong, having confidence he 
would be true to him ; who, notwithstanding, for money be- 
trayed him to the regent of Scotland. 

The fire of London was a punishment for gluttony. — London. 
It began in Pudding Lane, and ended in Pie Corner* 



OF ALL NATIONS. 13J 

The Isle of Wight hath no monks, lawyers, nor foxes. — 
Hampshire. 

A proverb with more mirth than truth in it. The remains of 
the monasteries of the black monks at Carisbrook, and white 
ones at Quarrer, confute one part of the saying. " Indeed," 
as Grose observes, " that there should be a fertile, healthy, 
and pleasant spot, without monks ; a rich place, without law- 
yers ; and a country abounding with lambs, without foxes, is 
evidently an improbability." 

To give one a Cornish hug. — Cornwall. 

A Cornish hug is a lock in the art of wrestling, peculiar to the 
Cornish men, who have always been famous for their skill in 
that manly exercise. 

The mayor of Northampton opens oysters with his dagger. 

To keep them as far as possible from his nose. Northampton 
. being eighty miles from the sea, the oysters brought thither, 

before the improvement of the turnpike roads, were generally 

stale. 

The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still. — Berkshire. 

Bray is a well-known village in Berkshire ; the vivacious vicar 
of which, living under Henry VIII., queen Mary, and queen 
Elizabeth, was first a papist, then a protestant ; then a papist, 
and then a protestant again. Being taxed for a turncoat ; " Not 
so," said he, " for I always kept my principle ; which is this, 
to live and die vicar of Bray !" To this, Fuller adds a sen- 
tence, which has not yet lost its application. " Such are men 
now-a-days," says he, " who, though they cannot turn the 
wind, they turn their mills and set them so,* that wheresoever 
it bloweth, their grain should certainly be grinded." 

This is the way to Beggar's-bush.- — Huntingdonshire. 

Applied to persons leading dissolute and improvident lives, tend- 
ing to poverty. Beggar's bush being a tree formerly known 
on the left hand of the London road, from Huntingdon to 
Caxton. This punning adage is said to be of royal origin; 
applied by king James I. to sir Francis Bacon, he having over- 
generously rewarded a poor man for a trifling present. 

They may claim the bacon at Dunmow. — Essex. 

Alludingto the well-known custom, instituted in the manor of 
Little Dunmow, in Essex, by lord Fitzwalter, who lived in the 
reign of Henry VIII.; which was, that any wedded couple, 
who, after being married a year and a day, would come to'the 
priory, and, kneeling on two sharp-pointed stones, before the 
prior and convent, swear, that, during that time, they had 
neither repented of their bargain, nor had any dissension, 
should have a gammon of bacon. The record mentions several 
persons who claimed and received it ; the last I find mentioned 

N 3 



138 SELECT PROVERBS 

is, a. D. 1764, when Mr. and Mrs. Liddal, of the Green Dragon, 
Harrowgate, took the flitch of bacon oath. The custom ceased 
either for want of bacon or claimants. 

To Denshire, or to Devonshire land. — Devonshire. 

To pare the turf from off the surface, and to lay it in heaps and 
burn it ; the ashes have been found greatly to enrich barren 
land by means of the salt they contain. It was probably first 
practised in Devonshire ; it is now general on barren spungy 
lands throughout England, previous to ploughing. 

" The same again," quoth Mark, of Bell-grave. — Leicester- 
shire. 

Alluding to an ancient militia-officer in queen Elizabeth's time, 
who, exercising his company before the lord-lieutenant, was 
so abashed, that, after giving the first word of command, he 
could recollect no more, but repeatedly ordered them to do 
the same again ! 

The weaver's beef of Colchester Essex, 

That is, sprats, caught thereabouts, and brought thither in in- 
credible abundance ; whereon the poor weavers are frequently 
fed.— Giiose. 

The devil will not come into Cornwall for fear of being put 
into a pie. — Cornwall. 

The people of Cornwall make pies of almost every eatable, as 
squab-pie, herby-pie, pilchard-pie, mugetty-pie, &c. 

The mayor of Altringham lies in bed while his breeches are 
mending. — Cheshire. 

As the mayor of every other town must do if he has but one pair, 
as was said to be the-case with this worshijjful magistrate. 

Tenterden steeple's the cause of Godwin sands. — Kent. 

Used when an absurd reason is given for any thing in question ; 
the origin of which is differently explained. One account says, 
an old man being asked the cause of the rising of this sand, 
said, that he remembered the building of Tenterden steeple, 
and that, before it was built, there was no talk of any flats or 
sands stopping up the haven ; therefore Tenterden steeple was 
the cause of the destruction of Sandwich harbour. In this he 
was right, had he been allowed to finish his explanation. Time 
out of mind money was collected in the county to bank out 
the sea, and deposited in the hands of the bishop of Rochester ; 
but the sea having been quiet for many years, the bishop ap- 
plied the money to the building of a steeple, and endowing the 
church at Tenterden. By this diversion of the funds, the sea 
afterwards broke in, overflowing earl Godwin's lands. So 
that, by a certain figure of speech, Tenterden steeple was the 
cause of Godwin sands. 



OF ALL NATIONS. 139 

The visible church ; or Harrow- on-the-Hill.— Middlesex. 
King Charles the Second, speaking on a topic then much agitated 
among divines of different persuasions, namely, which was 
the visible church, gave it in favour of Harrow-on-the-Hill ; 
which, he said, he always saw, go where he would. 

W. 

Weeping Cross. 
Archdeacon Nares says, he has found three places so called,, and 
probably there are more : these crosses being places where 
penitents particularly offered their devotions. Of the three 
places now retaining the name, one is between Oxford and 
Banbury ; the second, near Stafford, where the road turns off 
to Walsall; the third, near Shrewsbury. To return to Weep- 
ing Cross was proverbial for deeply lamenting an undertaking, 
and repenting of it ; like many other allusions to local names. 

" He that goes out with often losse, 
At last comes home by Weeping Crosse." 

Howell's English Proverbs. 

Welch ambassador. 

A jocular name for the cuckoo, probably from its migrating 
hither from Wales. 

"Thy sound is like the cuckoo, the Welch ambassador." 

Trick to Catch, Act IV. 

Wellington round-head. — Somersetshire. 

Proverbial formerly in Taunton, for a violent parliamentarian, 
and the town now gives the ducal title to a celebrated Tory 
general. 

When the daughter is stolen, shut Pepper-gate. — Cheshire. 

Pepper Gate was formerly a postern on the east side of the city 
of Chester. The mayor of the city having his daughter stolen 
away by a young man, through that gate, whilst she was play- 
ing at ball with the other maidens, his worship, out of revenge, 
caused it to be closed up. 

Wiltshire moon-raker. — Wiltshire. 

Some Wiltshire clowns, as the story goes, seeing the moon in a 
pond, attempted to rake it out. 

When do you fetch the five pounds? — Dorsetshire. 

A gibe at the Poolites. A rich merchant of Poole is said to have 
left five pounds, to be given every year, to set up any man 
who had served his apprenticeship* in that town, on condition, 
that he should produce a certificate of his honesty, properly 
authenticated, The bequest, it issaid, has not yetbeen claimed, 
and it is a common water joke to ask the crew of a Poyie ship, 
*' Whether any one has yet received the five pounds V 



140 SELECT PROVERBS. 

Y. 

You were born at Hogs-Norton. — Oxfordshire. 

" Properly," says Ray, " called Hoch Norton," but it is now 
Hook Norton: a village, whose inhabitants were so rustical in 
their behaviour, that clownish and boorish people were said 
to be born there. 

You are all for Hoistings, or Hustings. — London. 

That is, you all want to be rulers. The court of Hustings is a 
principal court in the city of London. It is so named from 
being hoisted or elevated above the common level. — Grose. 



141 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, SIMILIES, PROVERBIAL 
RHYMES, AND OLD SAWS. 



He has given him the bag to hold. 
Your belly chimes, it's time to go to dinner. 
A blot in his escutcheon. 
He's in clover. 
In easy circumstances. 

A Hampshire hog. 

A jocular expression for a Hampshire man ; Hampshire being 
famous for a fine breed of hogs, and the excellency of the 
bacon made there. 

A curtain lecture. 

Welch cousin Welch. 

A relation far removed : the Welch are great genealogists, and 

it is a sorry pedigree among them, that uoes not reach at least 

to Noah. 

Cream-pot love. 

Such as young fellows pretend to dairy-maids, to get cream and 
other good things from them. 

For want of company, welcome trumpery ! 

That's the cream of the jest. 

A clinker; 

An inhabitant of the Mint or Clink, formerly a place privileged 
from arrests ; the receptacle of knaves and sharpers of all sorts. 

To give one the go-by. 

A good fellow lights his candle at both ends. 
A horse kiss. 
A rude kiss. 
Neither lead nor drive. 



142 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

An old ewe dressed in lamb fashion. 

Applied to old women, when they affect the airs and dress of 
young people. 

He has given him leg bail. 
It is a lightening before death. 

Generally observed of sick persons, a little before they die. 
A king Harry's face. 
You'd do well in Lubber land, where they have half a crown 

a-day for sleeping. 

To look like an owl in an ivy-bush. 

To find a mare's nest. 

To catch a Tartar. 

To come in pudding time. 

To go like a bear to a stake. 

To have the world in a string. 

To make a mountan of a mole-hill. 

Billingsgate language. 

Such language as the fishwives and other rude people, who flock 
to this celebrated mart, use when they fall out. 

To nourish a viper in one's bosom. 
To pay one in one's own coin. 
You have eaten some Hull cheese. 
Got drunk. 

To rock the cradle in spectacles. 
To run a wild-goose chase. 
To seek a needle in a bottle of hay. 
Jack roast beef. 
A jocular name given by the French to the English, whom the 

former suppose cannot live without roast-beef, plumb pudding, 

porter, and punch. 

To leave no stone unturned. 
They are hand and glove. 
To take the wrong sow by the ear. 
Water bewitched. 
Small beer. 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 143 

The gallows groans for you. 
An handsome bodied man in the face. 
The gray mare is the better horse. 
Touch pot, touch penny. 
To pocket an injury. 
'Tis sooner said than done. 
Of all tame beasts I hate sluts. 
Veal will be cheap ; calves fall. 
A jeer for those who lose the calves of their legs. 

He looks as angry as if he was vexed. — Irish. 

A Scotch warming-pan. 

A wench. In explanation of this phrase, Ray has the following 
note : " The story is well known of the gentleman travelling 
in Scotland, who, desiring to have his bed warmed, the servant- 
maid doffs her clothes, and lays herself down in it awhile. In 
Scotland they have neither bellows, warming-pan, nor houses 
of office." — Edition, 1768, p. 65. It is hardly necessary to re- 
mark, that the state of things on the other side the Tweed has 
greatly improved since the time of Ray, and that Scotland is 
now distinguished for refinement and delicacy — its capital even 
styled the " modern Athens." 

A Welch ejectment. — Welch. 

A legal process, by which an obnoxious tenant is driven out, by 
taking off the doors, windows, roof, &c. 

The fragrance of sanctity. — Spanish. 
He has been in the sun. 

Got drunk. 

That was laid on with a trowel. 

A great lie. 
He's blown up. 

A bankrupt. 

She's like a cat, she'll play with her tail. 

He'll dress an egg, and give the offal to the poor. 

He'll bear away the bell. 

A golden bell was formerly the prize of victory at races and other 
sports. 

The belly thinks the throat cut. 



144 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

To bite upon the bridle. 
"Welchman's hose, 

According to archdeacon Nares, is equivalent to the breeches of 
a Highlander, or the dress of a naked Pict ; upon the presump- 
tion that Welchmen wear no hose. 

" The laws we did interpret, and statutes of the land, 
Not truly by the text, but newly by a glose : 
And words that were most plaine, when they by us were 
skan'd, 
We turned by construction to a Welchman's hose." 

Mirror for Magistrates. 
To wash a blackamoor white. 
Blindman's holiday. 
To come bluely off. 
He is true blue, he'll never stain. 

Coventry had formerly the reputation for dying blues, so much 
that true blue came to be a proverb, signifying one that is al- 
ways the same. Blue was formerly a colour appropriated to 
the dresses of servants and persons in low life : 
" You proud varlets, you need not be ashamed to wear blue, 
when your master is one of your fellows." 

Honest Whore. 

It was also the colour of beadles ; whence they came in for the 
appellation of blue-bottle. It is now applied to a certain party 
in politics. 

To outrun the constable. 
To run in debt. 

There is a bone for you to pick. 
The fireside beetle. — Gaelic. 
He knows which side his bread is buttered. 
His eyes are like two burnt holes in a blanket. — Irish, 
A chip of the old block. 
He's in the cloth market. 
In bed. 

To carry coals to Newcastle. 

This common, and, one would suppose, local proverb, is quoted 
by D'lsraeli, to show that scarcely any remarkable saying can 
be considered national, but that every one has some type or 
correspondent idea in other languages. In this instance, the 
Persians have, " To carry pepper toll indostan;" the Hebrews, 
" To carry oil to a city ol olives ;" which is exactly the same 
idea, clothed in oriental metaphor. 



FAMIUAR PHRASES, &C. 145 

A cuckold. 

Dr. Johnson, Home Tooke, Todd, and archdeacon Nares, seem 
to agree in deriving this word from cuckoo ; but, as Howell 
remarked, two centuries ago, it more properly belongs to the 
adulterer, the cuckoo being well known to be a bird that de- 
posits its eggs in other birds' nests. The Romans used cuculus 
in its proper sense as adulterer, calling, with °qual propriety, 
the cuckold himself carruca, or " hedge-sparrow," which bird 
is known to adopt the other's spurious offspring. In French, 
German, and Italian, the name of cuckoo has evidently been 
derived from the uniformity of its note ; and in all these lan- 
guages it is applied, in the same reproachful sense, to one 
whose wife has been unfaithful. Shakspeare says, 

" There have been, 

Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now ; 
And many a man there is, ev'n at this present, 
Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, 
That little thinks she has been sluic'd in's absence." 
This unfortunate class of mortals are unhappy two ways ; first, 
they are branded with an appellation which clearly does not 
belong to them ; secondly, they have to bear, without redress 
(except occasionally a little solid pudding in the shape of 
damages), the scorn and infamy of a crime which others have 
committed. 
" Ever since the reign of king Charles II.," says Swift, " the 
alderman is made a cuckold, the deluded virgin is debauched, 
and adultery and fornication are committed behind the scenes." 

His bread is buttered on both sides. 

To burn day light. 

'* Mercutio gives a full explanation of this phrase : 

" Come, we burn daylight, ho !" 

Rom. Nay, that's not so. Merc. I mean, sir, in delay, 

We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day." 

Rom. and Jul. 1. 4. 

To work for a dead horse. 

To play the dog in the manger ; not eat yourself, nor let 
another eat. 

A dog's life— -hunger and ease. 
To dine with duke Humphrey. 

Those were said to dine with duke Humphrey, who, having no 
dinner to eat, walked out the dinner hour in the body of St. 
Paul's church, where, it was erroneously believed, the duke 
was buried. The old church of St. Paul's was the exchange 
of former times, and a constant place of resort for business and 
amusement. Advertisements were fixed up there, bargains 
made, servants hired, and politics discussed. 

o 



146 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

To eat the calf in the cow's belly. 

To make both ends meet. 

Fair play is a jewel ; — don't pull my hair. 

He pins his faith on another man's sleeve. 

All is fish that comes to his net. 

The blackguard. 

Originally a jocular name given to the lowest menials of the 
court, the carriers of coals and wood, turnspits, and labourers 
in the scullery, who followed the court in its perambulations, 
and thus became observed. Such is the origin of this common 
term. 

I have other fish to fry. 

'Tis a folly tq fret ; grief's no comfort. 

Out of the frying-pan into the fire. 

Go farther and fare worse. 

He cannot say bo to a goose. 

A rogue in grain. 

It is related that a Welch curate in the Isle of Grain, on the 
borders of Kent, went stark mad, through the force of drink, 
and was sorely teased by his flock ; by the young fry, espe- 
cially. " Rogues," said the indignant Taffey, " are to be found 
in all parishes, but my parishioners are Rogues in Grain !" 

You halt before you are lame. 

All bring grist to your mill. 

To live from hand to mouth. 

I'll pledge you. 

An expression derived from the times when the Danes bore sway 
in England. The old manner of pledging was thus : the per- 
son who was going to drink, asked the person who sat next 
him if he would pledge him ? on which, he answering he would, 
held up a knife, or sword, to guard him whilst he drank : for, 
such was the revengeful ferocity of the Danes, that they would 
often stab a native, with a knife or dagger, while in the act of 
drinking. From this originated the custom of drinking healths. 

A Yorkshire tike. 

A tike here means a clown. Tike generally means, in the York- 
shire dialect, a great dog. 

We don't gather figs from thistles. 

To harp upon the same string. 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C, 147 

Too hasty to be a parish clerk. 

Riding the stang. 

A custom I have often seen practised in the North of England, 
and, in fact, assisted in ; is when a woman has beaten her hus- 
band, and one rides upon a stang or long pole, where he pro- 
claims, like a herald, the woman's name, and the nature of 
her misdemeanor. 

To hit the nail on the head. 

Hobson's choice. 

A man is said to have Hobson's choice, when he must either 
take what is left him, or none at all. Hobson was a noted 
carrier in Cambridge in king James's time, who, by carrying 
and grazing, raised himself to a great estate, and did much 
good in the town, relieving the poor, and building a publie 
conduit in the market-place. It does not appear how the pro- 
verb arose ; but, I think, I have read somewhere, it originated 
in the way Hobson let out his horses, compelling his cus- 
tomers to choose that next the stable door, and no other. 

To hold with the hare, and run with the hounds. 

By hook or by crook. 

By one way or another. The phrase is very ancient, and erro- 
neously ascribed to two learned judges in the time of Charles 
the First, Hoolce and Crooke ; implying that a difficult cause 
was to be got either by Hooke or Crooke — by Brougham or 
Scarlet. Warton, however, has shown that the phrase is of 
older date, and occurs twice in Spenser, and once in Skelton. 
See, how we apples swim ! 
To have a January chick. 

To have children in old age. 
Give him an inch and he'll take an elL 
Better known than trusted. 
Help the lame dog over the style. 
He'll go to law for the wagging of a straw. 
He looks as if he had neither won nor lost. 
You measure every one's corn by your own bushel. 
I can see as far into a mill-stone as another man. 
It will be a nosegay to him as long as he lives. 

It will stink in his nostrils. 
To rip up old sores. 
Penny wise, and pound foolish. 
o 2 



148 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

He wears the horns. 

The notion of cuckolds wearing horns prevails through all the 
modern European languages, and is of four or five hundred 
years standing. Dr. Burn traces this " crest of CucTcoldom " 
to horns worn, as crests, by those who went to Crusades, as 
their armorial distinctions, and the infidelity of their consorts 
during their absence : after the husband had been away three 
or four years, and came home in his martial habiliments, it 
might be no impossible supposition that the* man who wore 
the horns was a cuckold. This agrees with some of the witti- 
cisms in our old plays : 

" Why, my good father, what should you do with a wife ? 
Would you be crested ? Will you needs thrust your head 
In one of Vulcan's helmets ? Will you perforce 
Wear a city cap, and a court feather ? 

Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks, Lond. 1636. 

Another conjecture is, that some mean husbands, availing them- 
selves«of the beauty of their wives, have turned it to account 
by prostituting them, obtaining, by this means, the cornu 
copies, or, in the language of modern gallantry, tipping the horns 
with gold I Shakspeare and Ben Jonson seem to have both 
considered the horns in this light: 

" Well may he sleep in security, for he hath the horn of abund- 
ance, and the lightness of his wife shines through it : and yet 
he cannot see, though he hath his own lantern to light him.'* 
K. Hen. IV. 2nd Part. A. I. Sc. 4. 

■< "What ! never sigh, 

Be of good cheer, for thou art a cuckold. 

'Tis done, 'tis done ! nay, when such flowing store, 

Plenty itself, falls in my wife's lap, 

The cornu copice will be mine, I know." 

Every Man in his Humour, A. iii. Sc. 6. 

Another derives the word " horns " from the custom of blowing 
horns in the streets, on occasions of extraordinary news, or 
proclamation made by sound of trumpet; and supposes the 
horns are only public opinion, spreading abroad the infamy 
of the husband. 

The lady in the straw. 

An expression signifying the lady brought to bed ; and, accord- 
ing to Brand, derived from the circumstance, that all beds 
were anciently stuffed with straw, so that it is synonimous 
with saying " the lady in bed," or that is confined to her bed. 

He is put to bed with a shovel : — i. e. buried. 

You shall ride an inch behind the tail. 

To rob Peter to pay Paul. 

To have rods in pickle for one. 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 149 

Hiding Skimmingtoir. 

A ludicrous procession in ridicule of a man beaten by his wife. 
It consists of a man riding behind a woman, with his face to 
the horse's tail, holding a distaff in his hand, at which he seems 
to work, the woman all the while beating him with a ladle : a 
smock, displayed on a distaff, is carried before them, as an 
emblematical standard, denoting female superiority : the 
whole accompanied by the matrimonial music of bull's horns, 
frying-pans, marrow-bones and cleavers. Skimmington is 
the name of an arrant scold, most probabiy from some one 
famous in that line. 

You gather a rod for your own breech. 

To row one way and look another. 

Fair and softly, as lawyers go to heaven. 

To spare at the spigot and let out at the bung-hole. 

Abrabam-men 3 or Torn of Bedlam's men, or Bedlam beggars. 

A set of vagabonds who wandered about the country soon after 
the dissolution of the religious houses ; the provision for the 
poor in those days being cut off, and no other substituted. 
Hence, probably, the phrase of shamming Abraham, still extant 
among sailors.— fare's Glossary. 

To sow his- wild oats. 

To make a stalking horse. 

To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. 

You must take the fat with the lean. 

Peter -man. 

In the old plays, a familiar term for a fisherman on the Thames ; 
from the occupation of St. Peter. 

A tale of a tub. 

To stand upon thorns. 

Your tongue runs before your wit. 

I would not touch him with a pair of tongs. 

He is up to trap. 

I'll trust him no farther than I can fling him. 

To kill two birds with one stone. 

To wipe a person's nose. 

To cheat him : 

" 'Sfoot, lieutenant, wilt thou suffer thy nose to be icip'd of this 

great heir. 5 ' — May Day. 

o 3 



150 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

To carry two faces under one hood. 
To have two strings to one's bow. 
"What wind blew you hither ? 
God send you more wit, and me more money. 
To have the wolf by the ear. 
A man having a doubtful business in hand, which it is equally 

hazardous to pursue or abandon ; as it is to hold, or let go, a 

wolf we have by the ears. 

You cannot see wood for trees. 
She wears the breeches. 

That is, assumes the place and authority of the husband: 

*' Children rule, old men go. to school, women wear the 
breeches." Anatomy of Melancholy. 

Words may pass, but blows fall heavy. 

He's Yorkshire. 

The Italians say, " E' Spoletino." He is of Spoleto ; he is a cun- 
ning blade. 



SIMILIES AND OLD SAWS. 

As busy as a bee. 

As cold as charity. 

As lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned his head against a wal 

to bark. 
As mad as a March hare. 
As nice as a nun's hen. 
As plain as a pikestaff. 
As seasonable as snow in summer. 
As deep drinks the goose as the gander. 
As demure as if butter would not melt in her mouth. 
As slender in the middle, as a cow in the waist. 
As spiteful as an old maid. 
He stands like Mump-hazard, who was hung for saying 

nothing. — Cheshire. 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 151 

As the wind blows, you must set your sail. 

Like the parson of Saddleworth, who could read in no book 

but his own. — Cheshire. 
As lawless as a town bull. 
As like as two peas. 

As love thinks no evil, so envy speaks no good. 
As nimble as a cow in a cage. 
A.s often as we do good, we sacrifice. 

Jls often as thou doest wrong, justice has thee on the score. 
As true as the dial to the sun. 

As virtue is its own reward, so vice is its own punishment. 
As wary as a blind horse. 
As welcome as water in one's shoes. 
As wilful as a pig that will neither lead nor drive. 
As a cat loves mustard. 
As brisk as a bee in a tar pot. 

As wise as "Waltham's calf, that ran nine miles to suck a bull. 
As busy as a hen with one chicken. 
As fine as a lord's bastard. 
As full as an egg is of meat. 
To go out as a snuff. 
As green as grass. 
As hungry as a church-mouse. 
As good beg of a naked man, as a miser. 
As good do nothing, as to no purpose. 
As good eat the devil, as the broth he is boiled in. 
To look on me, as the devil looked over Lincoln 

"When Lincoln minster was finished, the devil is said to have 
looked over it with a terrific and malicious grin, as envying, 
saith Fuller, man's " cestly devotion" 

To love it as the devil loves holy water. 

As merry as a cricket. 

As good have no time, as make no good use of it. 

As good water goes by the mill, as drives it. 



152 FAMILIAR PHRASES, 8tC. 

As grave as an old gate post. 

As gray as grannum's cat. 

As kind as a kite ; all you can't eat you hide.. 

As plain as the nose on a man's face. 

As poor as Job. 

To strut like a crow in a gutter. 

As tender as Parnell, that broke her finger in a posset curd. 

As white as the driven snow. 



PROVERBIAL RHYMES. 

When Adam delv'd, and Eve span, 

Where was then the gentleman ? 

With a red man read thy read ; 

With a brown man break thy bread ; 

At a pale man dry thy knife, 

From a black man keep thy wife. 

The higher the plum-tree, the riper the plum; 

The richer the cobbler, the blacker his thumb 

A man of words and not of deeds, 

Is like a garden full of weeds. 

Women and wine, game and deceit, 

Make the wealth small, and the wants great, 

He that buys land, buys many stones ; 

He that buys flesh, buys many bones ; 

He that buys eggs, buys many shells ; 

But he that buys good ale, buys nothing else. 

If not by might, 

E'en do it by slight. 

He's a wise man, who, when he's well, can hold himself so. 

Many a little makes a mickle. 

Little strokes fell great oaks. 

Sometimes words hurt more than swords. 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 153 

Pay what you owe, 

And what you're worth you'll know. 

Linen often to water, soon to tatter. 

He that would please all, and himself too, 

Undertakes what none could do. 

He that by the plough would thrive, 

Himself must either hold or drive. 

There's nothing agrees worse, 

Than a prince's heart and a beggar's purse. 

Our fathers, who were wond'rous wise, 

Did wash their throats before they wash'd their eye&> 

The shape of a good Grayhound, 

A head like a snake, a neck like a drake, 

A back like a beam, a belly like a bream 9 

A foot like a cat, a tail like a rat. 

As a man lives, so shall he die ; 

As a tree falls, so shall it lie. 

An ague in the spring, 

Is physic for a king. 

The father to the bough, 

The son to the plough. 

The head and feet keep warm, 

The rest will take no harm. 

First canting, then wooing ; 

Then dallying, then doing. 

We will bear with the stink, 

If it bring but in chink. 

An ape's an ape, a varlet's a varlet, 

Though they be clad in silk or scarlet. 

The counsels that are given in wine, 

"Will do no good to thee or thine. 

"Who, more than he is worth, doth spensL 

E'en makes a rope his life to end. 

A thousand pounds and a bottle of hay, 

Are all one at Doomsday. 



154 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

Be always as merry as ever you can, 

For no one delights in a sorrowful man. 

Maidens must be mild and meek, 

Swift to hear, and slow to speak. 

A whip for a fool, and a rod for a school, 

Are always in good season. — Cardinal Wohey. 

The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be ; 

The devil was well, the devil a monk was he. 

It would make a man scratch where it doth not itch, 

To see a man live poor, to die rich. 

" Manners make the man," quoth William of Wickham. 

William of Wickham was a person well known. He was bishop 
of Winchester, founded a new college in Oxford, and Win- 
chester college in Hampshire. This was generally his motto, 
inscribed frequently on places of his founding. So that it be-, 
came proverbial. 

Who spends more than he should, 

Hath not to spend when he would. 

If a man knew when things would be dear, 

He need be a merchant but one year. 

Would you live an angel's days 

Be honest, just, and wise always. 

Enough's as good as a feast, 

To one that's not a beast. 

Early to bed, and early to rise, 

Will make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. 

If you trust before you try, 

You may repent before you die. 

Wide will wear, 

But narrow will tear. 

One God — no more, 

But friends good store. 

There are no gains without pains ; 

Then plough deep, while sluggards sleep. 

Up starts a churl that gathereth good, 

From whence did spring his noble blood ? 

He that hath more smocks than shirts in a bucking, 

Had need be a man of good forelooking — Chaucer, 



FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 155 

I never saw an oft-removed tree, 

Nor yet an oft-removed family, 

That throve so well as those that settled be. 

Great wits to madness, sure are near allied, 

And thin partitions do their bounds divide. 

His wit got wings, and would have flown, 

But poverty still kept him down. 

"When a musician has forgot his note, 

He makes as though a crum stuck in his throat 

u The most haste, the worst speed," 

Quoth the tailor to his long thread. 

The good or ill hope of a good or ill life, 

Is the good or ill choice of a good or ill wife. 

"When I did well, I heard it never ; 

"When I did ill, I heard it ever. 

The friend of the table 

Is very variable. — French. 

Vessels large may venture more, 

But little boats should keep near shore. 

A light purse 

Is a heavy curse. 

Such envious things the women are, 

That fellow flirts they cannot bear. 

Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse, 

Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. 

For age and want save while you may, 

No morning sun lasts a whole day. 

Get what you can, and what you get hold, 

'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold. 

He that gives his goods before he be head, 

Take up a mallet and knock him on the head. 

Taken from the history of one John Bell, who, having given all 
his substance to his children, was by them neglected : after he 
died there was found a mallet, with* this inscription : — 
I, John Bell, leaves her a mell, the man to fell, 
Who gives all to his bairns, and keeps nothing to himsell. 

"Who dainties love 
Shall beggars prove. 



156 FAMILIAR PHRASES, &C. 

Many estates are spent in the getting 

Since women, for tea, forsook spinning and knitting, 

And men, for their punch, forsook hewing and splitting. 

Wise men with pity do behold 

Fools worship mules who carry gold. 

They that have no other meaC, 

Bread and butter are glad to eat. 

As your wedding-ring wears, 

You'll wear off your cares, 

Like blood, like goods, and like age§ ? 

Make the happiest marriages. 



157 



PASTIMES AND HOLYDAYS. 



" What is a gentleman without hi3 recreations ?"— Old Play. 



In the games and diversions of a people, we may trace 
the distinguishing features of the national character, and the 
rude pastimes of our ancestors are a practical illustration of 
the courage and hardiness for which they were celebrated. 
Some of the old sports would be incompatible with the re- 
finement of the present day ; but others are of a nature less 
objectionable, and the memory of which is worthy of preser- 
vation. Many of the ancient games and holidays were rural 
festivities, commemorative of the return of the seasons, and 
not only innocent in themselves, but conducive to health and 
good-fellowship. Of this description were the May Games, 
the Harvest Supper, the Feast of Sheep Shearing, Mid- 
summer-Eve rejoicings, and the celebration of the New 
Year : all these may be traced to the earliest times ; indeed, 
they are coeval with society ; and the Feast of the Taber- 
nacles among the Jews, and the ancient honours paid to Ceres, 
Bacchus, and Saturn, by the heathens, were only analogous 
observances, under a different appellation. 

A revival of some of the old sports and pastimes would, 
probably, be an improvement in national manners ; and the 
modern attractions of rouge et noir, French hazard, roulette, 
u blue ruin," and muddy porter, be beneficially exchanged 
for the more healthy recreations of former ages. " Worse 



158 PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 

practices within doors," as Stowe remarks, " it is to be 
feared, have succeeded the open pastimes of the older time." 
The recreations of our Saxon ancestors were such as were 
common among the ancient Northern nations ; consisting 
mostly of robust exercises, as hunting, hawking, leaping, 
running, wrestling, and casting of darts. They were also 
much addicted to gaming, a propensity unfortunately trans- 
mitted, unimpaired, to their descendants of the present day. 
Chess was a favourite game with them, and likewise back- 
gammon, said to have been invented about the tenth century* 
The Normans introduced the chivalrous games of tourna- 
ments and justs. These last became very prevalent, as we 
learn from a satirical poem of the thirteenth century, a 
verse from which has been thus rendered by Strutt in his 
" Sports and Pastimes :" 

" If wealth, Sir Knight, perchance be thine, 
In tournaments you're bound to shine ; 
Refuse — and all the world will swear, 
You are not worth a rotten pear.'* 

When the military enthusiasm which characterised the 
middle ages had subsided, and chivalry was on the decline, 
a prodigious change took place in the manners of the people. 
Violent exercises grew out of fashion with persons of rank, 
and the example of the nobility was followed by other 
classes. Henry VII. Henry VIII. and James I. endea- 
voured to revive the ancient military exercises, but with 
only ephemeral success. 

We learn from Burton, in his " Anatomy of Melancholy," 
what were the most prevalent sports at the end of the six- 
teenth century.* Hunting, hawking, running at rings, tilts 

* In his dry way, old Burton says, " Cards, dice, hawkcs, and 
hounds, are rocks upon which men lose themselves when they are 



PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 159 

and tournaments, horse-races and wildgoose chases, were 
the pastimes of the gentry ; while the lower classes re- 
created themselves at May Games, Wakes, "Whitson Ales ; 
by ringing of bells, bowling, shooting, wrestling, leaping, 
pitching the bar, playing with keel pins, coits, tronks, 
wasters, foils, foot-ball, balown, and running at the quintain. 
Speaking of the Londoners, Burton says, " They take plea- 
sure to see some pageant or sight go by, as at a coronation, 
wedding, and such like solemn niceties ; to see an ambas- 
sador or prince received and entertained with masks, shows, 
and fireworks." The following he considers common amuse- 
ments, both in town and country — namely, " bull-baitings, 
and bear-baitings, in which our countrymen and citizens 
greatly delight and frequently use ; dancers on ropes, jug- 
glers, comedies, tragedies, artillery-gardens, and cock-fight- 
ing." The winter recreations consisted of cards, dice, 
tables, shovelboard, chess, the philosopher's game, shuttle- 
cock, billiards, music, masks, dancing, ule-games, riddles, 
cross purposes, merry tales of knights-errant, thieves, 
witches, fairies, and goblins. 

In addition to the May games, morris-dancing, pageants, 
and processions, which were common throughout the king- 
dom, the Londoners had peculiar privileges of hunting, 
hawking, and fishing ; they had also large portions of ground 
allotted to them in the vicinity of the city, for the practice 
of such pastimes as were not prohibited ; and for those, 
especially, that were conducive to health. On the holidays, 

improperly handled and beyond their fortunes.*' Hunting and 
hawking, he allows, are " honest recreations, and fit for some great 
men, but not for every base and inferior person, who, while they 
maintain their faulkoner, and dogs, and huntingnags, their wealth 
runs away with their hounds, and their fortunes fly away with 
their hawkes." 

P 2 



160 PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 

during the summer season, the young men exercised them- 
selves in the fields with leaping, archery, wrestling, playing 
with balls, and practising with their wasters and bucklers. 
The city damsels had also their recreations, playing upon 
their timbrels, and dancing to the music, which they often 
practised by moonlight. One writer says, it was customary 
for the maidens to dance in presence of their masters and 
mistresses, while one of their companions played the music 
on a timbrel ; and to stimulate them, the best dancers were 
rewarded with a garland, the prize being exposed to public 
view during the performance. To this custom Spenser 
alludes — 

" The damsels they delight, 

When they their timbrels smite, 

And thereunto dance and carol sweet.'* 

The London apprentices often amused themselves with 
their wasters and bucklers before the doors of their masters. 
Hunting, with the lord mayor's pack of hounds, was a diver- 
sion of the metropolis, as well as sailing, rowing, and fish- 
ing on the Thames. Duck-hunting was a favourite recrea- 
tion in the summer, as we learn from Strype. 

Having thus given a general view of public amusements 
from an early period, I shall shortly describe some of the 
most popular pastimes, many of which have been either 
modified or supplanted by other recreations. 

First, of the game of Hand-ball, called, by the French 
palm-play, because the exercise consisted in receiving the 
ball, and driving it back again with the palm of the hand. 
Formerly they played with the naked hand, then with a 
glove, which in some instances was lined ; afterwards they 
bound cords and tendons round the hands to make the ball 
rebound more forcibly : hence the racket derived its origin. 



PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 161 

In the reign of Charles I. palm-play was very fashionable in 
France, being played by the nobility for large sums of 
money ; when they had lost all they had about them, they 
would sometimes pledge a part of their dress, rather than 
give up the game. In England it was a favourite pastime 
among the youth of both sexes, and in many parts of the 
kingdom they played, during the Easter holidays, for tansy 
cakes. It is still played, though under a different name, and 
probably under a different modification of the game ; it is 
now called Fives, 

Stool-ball is frequently mentioned by the writers of the 
last century, but without any description of the game. Dr. 
Johnson describes it as a play, where balls are driven from 
stool to stool, but does not say in what manner, or to what 
purpose. It seems to have been a game more appropriated 
to the women than to the men, but occasionally played by 
both sexes, as appears from the following song, written by 
D'Urfey, to the play of Don Quixote : 

" Down in a vale, on a summer's day, 
All the lads and lasses met to be merry ; 
A match for kisses at stool-ball to play, 
And for cakes and ale, and eider and perry. 
Chorus, Come all, great, small, short, tall, away to stool -ball." 

Foot-ball was formerly much in vogue among the com- 
snon people, though of late years it has fallen into disrepute, 
and is little practised. Many games with the ball require 
the assistance of a club or bat, and probably the most ancient 
is the well-known game in the North, under the name of 
Goff. It requires much room to play this game properly ; 
therefore it is rarely seen in the vicinity of the metropolis. 
Pall-mall had some resemblance to Goff. The game con- 
sisted in striking a round box ball with a mallet, through 
p 3 



S62 PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 

two high arches of iron, one at each end of the alley ; which 
he that could do at the fewest blows, or at the number 
agreed upon, wins. It was a fashionable amusement in the 
reign of Charles II. and a well-known street, then a walk 
In St. James's Park, derived its name from Charles and his 
courtiers there playing at mall: the denomination mall, 
being evidently derived from the mallet or wooden hammer 
used by the players. 

The noble game of Ckicket has superseded most of the 
ancient ball-games, and this is now so frequent a pastime 
among all ranks, that it does not require illustration. 

Running at the Quintain is a game of great antiquity. 
The quintain at first was nothing more than the trunk of a 
tree or post, set up for the purpose of tyros in chivalry. In 
process of time, the diversion was improved, and the resem- 
blance of a human figure, carved in wood, was introduced 
To render the appearance of this figure more formidable, it 
was generally made in the likeness of a Turk or Saracen, 
armed at all points, bearing a shield upon his left arm, and a 
sword in his right. The quintain thus fashioned was placed 
upon a pivot, and soconstructed as to move round with great 
facility. In running at the figure, it was necessary for the 
horseman to direct his lance with great adroitness, and make 
his stroke upon the forehead, between the eyes, or upon the 
nose ; for if he struck wide of these parts, especially upon 
the shield, the quintain turned about with velocity, and if 
he was not exceedingly careful, would give him a severe blow 
on the baqk with the wooden sabre held in the right hand, 
which was considered highly disgraceful to the performer, 
while it excited the laughter of the spectators. 

The exercise of the quintain was practised in London in 



PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 163 

summer and in winter, but especially about Christm? . 
Stovve relates, he had seen the quintain set on Cornhill, 
where " the attendants of the lords of merry disports have 
ran, and made great pastime." Tilting or running at the 
ring, was evidently a sport derived from the quintain. 

Hock-Day was once a popular holiday, mentioned by 
Matthew Paris and other ancient writers. It was usually 
kept about Easter, and distinguished by various sportive 
pastimes, in which the men and women, divided into parties, 
were accustomed to bind and draw each other with ropes. 
Hock-day was generally observed, so late as the sixteenth 
century. 

Sheep-Shearing and the Harvest -Home were both 
celebrated in ancient times with feasting and rustic sports : 
at the latter, the masters and servants used to sit down at 
the same table to a plentiful regale, and spend the night in 
dancing and singing, without distinction. At the present 
day, excepting a dinner, or more frequently a supper, at 
conclusion of sheep-shearing and harvest, we have little 
remains of these great rural festivals., 

The advent of the New Year is still marked by the ob- 
servance of some old customs, the old year being considered 
well ended by copious libations, and the new by sending 
presents, termed New- Year gifts, to friends and acquaint- 
ance. Young women formerly went about with the famous 
Wassail-bowl ; that is — a bowl of spiced ale, on New-year's 
eve, with some verses which were sung by them in going 
from door to door. 

Fairs were formerly a greater kind of market, to which 



J 64 PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 

people resorted periodically for the purchase of all kinds of 
necessaries for the ensuing year. One of the chief of them, 
was that of St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester : it was at first 
for three days, but afterwards by Henry III. prolonged to 
sixteen days. Its jurisdiction extended seven miles round ; 
comprehending even Southampton, then a capital trading 
town. A toll was levied on all merchandize brought to the 
fair, the produce of which had been given by the Conqueror 
to the bishop of Rochester. 

Fairs were often the anniversary of the dedication of a 
church, when tradesmen used to sell their wares in the 
church-yard; as at Westminster, on St. Peter's day; at 
London, on St. Bartholomew's ; at Durham, on St. Cuth- 
bert's day. They have long been on the decline in public 
estimation. Southwark fair, May fair, St. James's fair, in 
the city of Westminster, were suppressed at the beginning 
of the last century ; and if the present hostility of the magi- 
strates continues to these annual assemblages, few will 
shortly remain in the villages and hamlets round the metro- 
polis. 

May-Games are of great antiquity, and were formerly 
generally celebrated, especially in the metropolis. Stowe 
says, on May-day, in the morning, the citizens used to walk 
" into the sweet meadows and green woods, there to rejoice 
their spirits with the beauty and savour of sweet flowers ;" 
and he gives an account of Henry the Eighth's riding a 
Maying from Greenwich to Shooter's Hill, with queen 
Catherine, accompanied with many lord and ladies. He 
further says, that " every parish, and sometimes two or 
three parishes, joining together, had their Mayings, and did 
fetch in May-poles, with divers warlike shows, with good 
archers, morris dancers, and other devices for pastime, all 



PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 



165 



the day long ; and, towards evening, they had stage plays 
and bonfires in the streets." It was a custom to elect a 
lord and lady of the May, who presided over the sports. 
Robin Hood and his merry companions were personified in 
appropriate dresses, and added much to the pageantry of the 
May-games. He presided as lord of the May, and a female, 
or man habited like a female, called the Maid Marian, his 
faithful mistress, was the lady of the May. The May-pole 
in some villages, stood the whole year without molestation. 
The only remains of May-games in the south is Jack-in-the- 
Green, who still parades the streets, though a very trumpery 
representation of the old sports. 

The Whitsuntide Holidays were celebrated by vari- 
ous pastimes and drolleries. Strutt says, that at Kidlington 
in Oxfordshire, a fat lamb was provided ; and the maidens 
of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, were 
permitted to run after it ; and she who, with her mouth, 
took hold of the lamb, was declared the Lady of the Lamb ; 
which, being killed and cleaned, but with skin hanging upon 
it, was carried in procession before the lady and her com- 
panions to the green, attended with music, and a morris dance 
of men, and another of women. The rest of the day was 
spent in mirth and glee. 

Country Wakes are the last rural holiday I shall notice : 
they were generally observed in the northern and southern 
parts of the kingdom, consisting of feasting, dancing on the 
green, wrestling, and cudgel-playing. They were originally 
intended to commemorate the dedication of the parish 
church, when the people went to pray with lighted torches, 
and returned to feast the remainder of the night. 

To these rural pastimes and ancient sports succeeded the 



166 PASTIMES AND HOLIDAYS. 

less healthy amusements of balancing, tumbling, and jug- 
gling — the tricks performed by bears, monkeys, horses, and 
dancing dogs. Astley's Amphitheatre and the Royal Circus 
exhibited feats of equestrianship. Music began to form a 
principal ingredient in popular amusements, and Vauxhall, 
Raneiagh, Sadler's Wells, and the Marybonne Gardens, 
were the chief marts for recreation. These, with the great 
attraction and variety of dramatic entertainments, and a 
more sedulous devotion to cards, dice, and billiards, have 
continued, to the present day, the prevalent amusements. 



w 



CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 



Many of our ancient customs and ceremonies may be 
traced to the remotest period and the most distant nations ; 
and few but have had their origin prior to the time of the 
Reformation. I shall briefly describe a few of the most 
remarkable, premising that the facts are chiefly collected 
from the curious and interesting work of the late Mr. Brand, 
tm "Popular Antiquities." 

On Midsummer-Eve fires were lighted, round which 
the old and young amused themselves in various rustic 
pastimes. In London, in addition to the bonfires, every 
man's door was shaded with green birch, long fennel, Saint 
John's wort, and white lilies, ornamented with garlands of 
flowers. The citizens had, also, lamps of glass, with oil 
burning in them all night; and some of them hung out 
branches of iron, curiously wrought, containing hundreds of 
lamps lighted at once, which made a very splendid appear- 
ance. On these occasions, Stowe says, New Fish Street 
and Thames Street were peculiarly brilliant. 

It is a ceremony, says Browne, never omitted among the 
vulgar, to draw lots, which they term Valentines, on the eve 
before Valentine-day. The names of a select number of 
one, with an equal number of the other sex, are put into 
some vessel; and, after that, every one draws a name, which 



168 CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 

for the present is called their Valentine, and is looked upon 
as a good omen of their being man and wife afterwards. 
Brand says, the custom of choosing Valentines was a sport 
practised in the houses of the gentry in England, so early as 
the year 1476. 

In the North of England, the Monday preceding Shrove- 
Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, is called Collop Monday ; 
eggs and collops forming a principal dish at dinner on that 
day, as pancakes do on the following, from which custom 
they derive their names. It would seem, that on Collop 
Monday they took their leave of flesh in the papal times, 
which was formerly prepared to last during the winter by 
salting, drying, and being hung up. Slices of this kind of 
meat are, to this day, called collops in the north ; whence 
they are called steaks when cut off fresh, or unsalted flesh. 

Hallow Eve, called, in the north, Nut-crack Night, is 
the vigil of All-Saints' Day, which is on the first of Novem- 
ber ; when it is the custom in the north of England, to dive 
for apples, or catch at them, suspended from a string, with 
their mouths only, their hands being tied behind their backs. 
In Scotland, the young women determine the figure and size 
of their husbands, on Hallow Even, by drawing cabbages, 
blindfold ; and, like the English, fling nuts into the fire. 
Burning the nuts answers also the purpose of divination. 
They name the lad and lass to each particular nut as they put 
them into the fire ; and, accordingly, as they burn quietly 
together, or start from beside each other, the course and 
issue of the courtship will be. In Ireland, the young women 
put three nuts upon the bar of the grates, naming the nuts 
after the lovers. If a nut cracks, or jumps, the lover will 
prove unfaithful ; if it begins to blaze and burn, he has a 



CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 169 

regard for the person making the trial. If the nuts, men- 
tioned after the girl and her sweetheart, burn together, they 
will be married. A similar mode of divination, bv means 
of a peascod, is described by Gay : 

" As peascods once I pluck'd, I chanc'd to see 
One that was closely fill'd with three-times three; 
Which, when I cropp'd, I safely home convey 'd, 
And o'er the door the spell in secret laid ; — 
The latch moved Up, when who should first come in, 
But, in his proper person — Lubberkin !*' 

The election of a Boy Bishop on St. Nicholas 7 Day is 
one of the most singular customs of former times. In cathe- 
drals, the Boy Bishop was elected from among the children 
of the choir. After his election, being completely apparelled 
in the episcopal vestments, with a mitre and crozier, he 
bore the title and state of a bishop, and exacted ceremonial 
obedience from his fellows, who were habited like priests. 
What is most strange, he took possession of the church, and, 
except mass, performed all the ceremonies and offices. At 
Salisbury, the Boy Bishop had the power of disposing of such 
prebends as happened to be vacant in the days of his episco- 
pacy ; and if he died in his high office, the funeral honours 
of a bishop, with a monument, were granted to him. His 
office and authority lasted from the 6th to the 28th of 
December. 

This ceremony is said to have been in honour of St. 
Nicholas, the patron of scholars. Such a show, at the pre- 
sent day, would have been deemed somewhat of a burleque, 
or even blasphemous parody on the Christian religion. The 
show of the Boy Bishop was abolished by a proclamation in 
1542, more from its absurdity than impiety. 

The Montebi, at Eton, bears some resemblance to the 
Q 



170 CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 

preceding pageant ; modified, in conformity with the altered 
feelings of the times, from a religious to a military spectacle. 
The Montem takes place on Tuesday in Whitsun week, when 
the Eton scholars go in military procession, with drums and 
trumpets, to Salt Hill. The scholars of the superior classes 
dress in the uniform of captain, lieutenant, or other regi- 
mental officer ; which they obtain from London. The pro- 
cession begins with marching three times round the school- 
yard ; from thence to Salt Hill, where one of the scholars, 
dressed in black, with a band, as chaplain, reads certain 
prayers : after which a dinner, dressed in the college kitchen, 
is provided by the captain for his guests at the inn there, 
the rest getting a dinner for themselves at the other houses 
of entertainment. The price of the dinner in Huggett's time 
was 10s. 6c?., and 2s. 6d. more for salt-money. The dinner 
being over, they march back, in the order they came, into 
the school-yard, round which they march three times, when 
the ceremony is concluded. 

The motto on the colours is, Pro More et Monte. Every 
scholar, who is no officer, marches with a long pole, two and 
two. Before the procession begins, two of the scholars, 
called salt-bearers, dressed in white, with a handkerchief of 
salt in their hands, and attended each with some sturdy young 
fellow, hired for the occasion, go round the college, and 
through the town, and from thence up into the high road, 
offering salt to all, but scarcely leaving it to their choice, 
whether they will give or not ; for money they will have, if 
possible, and that even from servants. The contributions 
thus levied are very considerable ; in 1793 they amounted to 
1000/., but that was an unusual sum, the average being about 
500/. The salt money paid by the king on this occasion is 
one hundred guineas. The custom of offering salt is dif- 
ferently explained : it is supposed to be an emblem of learn- 



CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 171 

ing ; and the scholars, in presenting it to passengers, and 
asking money, engage to become proficient therein, 

Royal- Oak Day, as every one knows, commemorates 
the escape of Charles the Second from his pursuers, after the 
battle of Worcester. Brand relates, that he remembered 
a taunting rhyme, with which the boys at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne used to insult such persons as they met on that day, 
who had not oak leaves in their hats : 

" Royal oak, 
The Whigs to provoke.'* 

To this was a retort courteous by others, who con- 
temptuously wore plane-tree leaves, of the same homely 

diction : 

" Plane-tree leaves; 
The church-folk are thieves.'* 

The royal oak, at a short distance from Bocobel House, 
was standing in Dr. Stukeley's time (1724), enclosed with a 
brick wall, but almost cut away in the middle by travellers, 
whose curiosity led them to see it. Charles, after the Resto- 
ration, visiting the place, carried away some of the acorns > 
and set them in St. James's Park, and used to water them 
himself. 

The Passing Bell was anciently rung for two purposes : 
one, to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul 
just departing ; the other, to fright away the evil spirits who 
stood at the bed's-foot, and about the house, ready to seize 
their prey ; or, at least, to molest and terrify the soul in its 
passage : but by the ringing of that bell they were kept 
aloof; and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or 
had what by sportsmen is called law. Hence, perhaps, 
exclusive of the additional labour, was occasioned the high 
Q 2 



172 CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 

price demanded for tolling the greater bell of the church ; 
for that being louder, the evil spirits must go farther off; it 
would also procure the deceased a great number of prayers. 

Mothering Sunday, or Mid- Lent Sunday, is the day 
on which the people used to visit their mother church, and 
make their offerings at the high altar. The only remains of 
this custom is the practice of going to visit parents on Mid- 
lent Sunday. 

(i April with fools, and May with bastards blest." 

Churchill. 

A castom, says The Spectator, prevails every where 

amongst us on the first of April, when every body strives to 

make as many fools as he can. The wit consists chiefly in 

sending persons on what are called sleeveless errands, for 

the History of Eve's Mother, for pigeon s milk y with similar 

ridiculous absurdities. The French call the person imposed 

upon a Poisson d'Avril" an April fish," who we term an 

April fool. In the north of England, persons thus imposed 

upon are called " April Gowks ;" Gowk being the word for 

a cuckoo ; metaphorically, a fool. In Scotland, they send 

silly people from place to place, by means of letter, in which 

is written : , 

" On the first day of April, 

Hunt the gowk another mile !" 

Similar fooleries prevail in Portugal, as we learn from 
Mr. Southey. " On the Sunday and Monday," says he, 
" preceding Lent, as on the first of April, in England, 
people are privileged here (Lisbon) to play the fool. It is 
thought very jocose to pour water on any person who passes, 
or throw water on his face ; but to do both is the perfec* 
fcion of wit." 



CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES, 1 73 

Mr. Brand has not ascertained the origin of All-Fool's 
day. It has been stated, it arose from the custom of letting 
all the insane persons be at large on the first of April, when 
the boys amused themselves by sending them on ridiculous 
errands. 

Maunday Thursday is the Thu3day before Easter, and 
is the Thursday of the poor, from the French mendier, ki to 
beg." It was formerly the custom of the kings of England 
to wash the feet of poor men, in number equal to the years 
of their reign, in imitation of the humility of our Saviour ; 
and give them shoes, stockings, and money. James the 
Second was the last king who performed this in person. 
The custom of giving alms is still continued. 

The Shamrock is said to be worn by the Irish on St. 
Patrick's Day, in memory of the means resorted to by their 
patron saint to convert them to Christianity. When St. 
Patrick landed near "Wicklow, the natives were ready to 
stone him for attempting an innovation in the religion of 
their ancestors. He requested to be heard, and explained 
to them, that God is an omnipotent Spirit, who created 
heaven and earth, and that the Trinity contained the Unity : 
but they were reluctant to give credit to his words. St. 
Patrick then plucked a trefoil, or three-leaved grass with 
one stalk, exclaiming, " Is it not as possible for the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, to be in one, as for these three leaves 
to grow upon a single stalk? Then the Irish were imme- 
diately convinced of their error, and were solemnly baptized 
by St. Patrick. 

It was a general custom, and is still observed in some 
parishes, to go round the bounds and limits of the parish, 
on one of the three days before Holy Thursday; when 
Q 3 



174 CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. 

the minister, accompanied by his churchwardens and pa- 
rishioners, were wont to deprecate the Tengeance of God, 
beg a blessing upon the fruits of the earth, and preserve the 
rights a$d boundaries of the parish. It is supposed to have 
been derived from the ancients, in imitation of the feast 
called Terminalia, which was dedicated to the god Terminus, 
whom they considered the guardian of fields and landmarks, 
and the preserver of friendship and peace. In London, these 
parochial perambulations are still kept up on Holy Thurs- 
day. Hooker, author of Ecclesiastical Polity, would by no 
means omit the customary procession ; persuading all, both 
rich and poor, if they desired the preservation of love, and 
their parish rights and liberties, to accompany him in his 
perambulation. 

The custom of electing municipal officers and magistrates 
at Michaelmas is still observed, as well as the old fare of 
a roast goose for dinner. Perhaps no reason can be given 
for this latter custom, but that Michaelmas day was a great 
festival, and stubble geese at that time were plentiful and 
good : 

" Geese now in their prime season are, 
Which, if well roasted, are good fare." 

Poor Robin's Almanack, 1695. 

Some ascribe the eating of goose at Michaelmas to the 
circumstaance, that on that day queen Elizabeth received the 
news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, while she was 
eating a goose ; and to commemorate the event, she ever 
afterwards dined on that day on a goose. But, as Brand 
observes, this is a strong proof that the custom prevailed at 
court even in queen Elizabeth's time. In Denmark, where 
the harvest is later every family has a roasted goose for 
supper on St. Martin's eve. 



175 



CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. 



England was always famous among foreigners for the 
celebration of Christmas, at which season they admitted 
sports and pastimes, not known in other countries. 

iC At the feast of Christmas," says Stowe, " in the king's 
court, wherever he chanced to reside, there was appointed 
a Lord of Misrule, or master of merry disports : the same 
merry fellow made his appearance at the house of every 
nobleman and person of distinction ; and, among the rest, 
the lord mayor of London, and the sheriffs, had their lords of 
misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who 
should make the rarest pastime to delight the beholders." 
The society of Lincoln's Inn had an officer chosen at this 
season, who was honoured with the title of King of Christ' 
mas Day, because he presided in the hall on that day, with 
his marshal and steward to attend him. The marshal, in 
the absence of the monarch, was permitted to assume his 
state ; and upon New- Year's day he sat as king in the hall, 
when the master of the revels, during the time of dining, 
supplied the marshal's place. 

The custom of going a-begging, called Hagmena, a few 
nights before Christmas, singing Christmas carols, and wish- 
ing a happy New Year, is still followed in the North of Eng- 
land. They get in return, apples, nuts, refreshments, and 
money. Mummery is another Christmas drollery, which 



176 CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. 

consists in men and women changing clothes ; and, so dis- 
guised, going from one neighbour's house to another, par- 
taking of Christmas cheer. 

On the night of Christmas Eve, it was formerly the prac- 
tice to light up candles of an uncommon size, called Christ- 
mas candles, and lay a log of wood on the fire, called a Yule 
Clog, to illuminate the house, and turn, as it were, day into 
night. In the Latin or "Western church, Christmas was 
called the Feast of Lights. 

The forms of the Twelfth Day vary in different coun- 
tries, yet all agree in the same end, to do honour to the 
Eastern Magi, who are supposed to have been of royal 
dignity. It is in the south of England where the customs 
of this day are most prevalent. They are thus described by 
Brand. After tea, a cake is produced, and two bowls, con- 
taining the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The 
host fills up the tickets, and the whole company, except the 
king and queen, are to be ministers of state, and maids of 
honour, or ladies of the bedchamber. Often the host and 
hostess, more by design than accident, become king and 
queen. The twelfth-cake was made formerly of plums, with 
a bean and pea : who found the former, was king ; who got 
the latter, was queen. The choosing of a king and queen, 
by a bean in a piece of divided cake, was formerly a com- 
mon Christmas gambol in both the universities. 

Christmas Boxes are derived from a custom of the 
ancients, of giving New-Year's Gifts. In papal times, the 
priests had their Christmas-box, in which were kept the 
sum they levied on the people for prayers, and granting 
absolution for sins. 



CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. 177 

Decking houses and churches with ever-greens is another 
custom of pagan origin. The ancient Druids decked their 
houses with holly and ivy in December, that the sylvan 
spirits might repair to them, and remain unnipped by the 
frost and cold winds till a milder season had renewed the 
foliage of their favourite abodes. 

But for a more particular account of Christmas customs 
and festivities we must refer the reader to Mr. Brand's 
large work, or to Washington Irving. I shall conclude with 
a good old Christmas carol from Poor Mobi?i , s Almanack for 
1695, and preserved in Brand's Popular Antiquities. 



A CHRISTMAS SONG. 

Now thrice welcome, Christmas, 

Which brings us good cheer : 
Minc'd pies and plum-pudding, 

Good ale, and strong beer $ 
With pig, goose, and capon, 

The best that may be : 
So well doth the weather 

And our stomachs agree. 

Observe how the chimneys 

Do smoke all about ; 
The cooks are providing 

For dinner, no doubt ; 
But those on whose tables 

No victuals appear, 
O may they keep Lent 

All the rest of the vear! 



173 CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS. 

With holly and ivy, 

So green and so gay, 
We deck up our houses. 

As fresh as the day ; 
With bays and rosemary, 

And laurel complete ; 
And every one now 

Is a king in conceit. 



But as for curmudgeons 
Who will not be fre*, 

I wish they may die 
On a three-legged &f§© 



179 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 



It would occupy a large volume merely to enumerate the 
superstitious practices still prevalent in different parts of 
the country, many of which are observed in the metropolis ; 
and even well-educated persons will call to mind with what 
avidity in childhood they listened to nursery tales of giants, 
dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and witches. The effect of these 
juvenile impressions are not easily got the better of, and the 
impressions themselves rarely, if ever, forgotten. 

To doubt, in former times, the power of charms, and the 
veracity of omens and ghost-stories, was deemed little less 
than atheism ; and the terror caused by them, frequently 
embittered the lives of persons of all ages, by almost shut- 
ting them out of their own houses, and deterring them from 
going abroad after dark. The room in which the head of a 
family died was for a long time untenanted ; particularly if 
they died without a will, or were supposed to have enter- 
tained any particular religious opinion. If any disconsolate 
old maiden or love-crossed bachelor happened to despatch 
themselves in their garters, the room where the fatal deed 
was perpetrated was rendered for ever after uninhabitable, 
and not unfrequently nailed up. " If a drunken farmer," 
says Grose, " returning from market, fell from Old Dobbin 
and broke his neck — or a carter, in the same predicament, 
tumbled from his cart or waggon, and was killed by it — that 
spot ever after was haunted and impassable :'' in short, there 



180 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

was scarcely a bye-lane or cross-way but had its ghost, who 
appeared in the shape of a headless cow or horse ; or, clothed 
all in white, glared, with baleful eye, over some lonely gate 
or stile. Ghosts of higher degree rode in coaches, drawn by 
six headless horses, and driven by a headless coachman and 
postillion. Almost every manor-house was haunted by some 
of its former masters and mistresses, where, besides other 
noises, that of telling money was distinctly heard : and as 
for the church-yards, the number of ghosts that swarmed 
there, according to the village computation, equalled the 
living parishioners, and to pass through them was a far more 
perilous enterprise than the storming of Badajos ! 

Terrible and inconvenient as these superstitions might be, 
they were harmless compared with the dreadful consequences 
resulting from a belief in Witchcraft — which even made its 
way into our courts of justice ; and it is with horror we read 
of hundreds of innocent persons entitled, by age and infirmi- 
ties, to protection and indulgence, immolated, with all the 
forms of law, at the shrine of universal Ignorance ! Artful 
priests, to advance the interests of their religion, or rather 
their own emolument, pretended to have power to cast out 
devils from demoniacs and persons bewitched, and for this 
purpose suborned worthless people to act the part of persons 
possessed ; and to suffer the evil spirits to be cast out by 
prayers and sprinkling with holy water. To perform their 
parts they counterfeited violent fits and convulsions, on signs 
given them ; and, in compliance with the popular notions, 
vomited up crooked nails, pins, needles, coals, and other 
rubbish, privately conveyed to them. Fortunately, these 
combinations were at length discovered and exposed ; but it 
is an astonishing fact, that in New England there were, at 
one time, upwards of three hundred persons all imprisoned 
for witchcraft. 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 181 

Confuted and ridiculed as these opinions have lately been, 
the seeds of them are still widely diffused, and at different 
times have attempted to spring up, as in the Cock-lane 
Ghost, the noises at Stockwell, and the Stamford Ghost. 
So recently as in the last reign, in the centre of England, at 
Glen in Leicestershire, two old women were actually thrown 
into the river by the populace, to ascertain, by their sinking 
or swimming, whether they were witches ! Have we not even 
at the present day the pretended miracles of prince Hohen- 
loe, and do we not daily read of the horrid cruelties perpe- 
trated in Ireland, under the pretence of casting out evil 
spirits ? How, indeed, can we doubt the wide diffusion of 
popular superstitions, when it is notorious, that men of first- 
rate education and intellect have been believers therein ! 
Dr. Johnson was a scrupulous observer of signs, omens, and 
particular days; Addison was a half-believer, at least, in 
ghosts ; John Wesley saw or heard several apparitions ; and 
not very long since we had the Poet Laureate and sir Walter 
Scott endeavouring to revive all the ancient phantasmagoria 
of elves, fairies, witches, giants, and dwarfs — not forgetting 
the philosopher's stone, and the sublime mysteries of Jacob 
Behmen ! 

GHOSTS, 

These are supposed to be the spirits of persons deceased ; 
who are either commissioned to return for some especial 
errand, such as the discovery of a murder ; to procure resti- 
tution of lands, unjustly withheld from an orphan or widow 
— or, having committed some injustice whilst living, cannot 
rest till that is redressed. Sometimes their earthly mission 
is to inform their heir in what secret place, or private drawer 
in an old trunk, they had hidden the title-deeds cf the estate ; 
or where in troublesome times they had buried their money 

R 



182 POPULAR SUPERS FiTiONS. 

or plate. Some ghosts of murdered persons, whose bodies 
have been secretly buried, cannot be at ease till their bones 
have been grubbed up, and deposited in consecrated ground, 
with all the rites of Christian burial. 

Ghosts are supposed to be mere aerial beings, that can 
glide through a stone wall, a keyhole, or even the eye of a 
tailor's needle. They usually appear about midnight, seldom 
before it is dark, though some audacious spirits have ap- 
peared even by daylight : but of these there are few instances, 
and those mostly ghosts that have been laid in the Red Sea, 
and whose term of imprisonment had expired : these, like 
felons returned from Botany Bay, are said to return more 
daring and troublesome than before. Dragging chains are 
the fashion of English ghosts ; chains and black vestments 
being chiefly the habiliments of foreign sprites, seen in the 
dominions of the Holy Alliance : living or dead English 
spirits are free ! One solitary instance occurs of an English 
ghost dressed in black, in the well-known ballad of William 
and Margaret : 

And clay -cold was her lily hand, 

That held her sable shroud. 

This, however, is conjectured to be merely a poetical 
licence, used for the bold contrast — the essence of the pic- 
turesque — of lily to sable. 

If, during the visit of an apparition, there is a lighted 
candle in the room, it burns deeply blue : this is so univer- 
sally admitted, that many first-rate philosophers have busied 
themselves in accounting for it, without once doubting the 
truth of the fact. Dogs have the faculty of seeing spirits, 
which they evince by whining and creeping close to their 
masters. Whether pigs — who are known to have a peculiar 
organ of vision for seeing the wind — are equally gifted, has 
not yet been ascertained. Their coming is usually announced 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 183 

by a variety of loud and dreadful noises, sometimes rattling 
in the hall like the trundling of bowls or cannon balls, or 
the shooting of a chaldron of Newcastle coals. At length, 
the door flies open, and the spectre stalks slowly up to the 
bed's foot, and opening the curtain, looks steadfastly at the 
person in bed, by whom it is seen and no other, a ghost 
never appearing to more than one person at once. Agree- 
ably to ghostly etiquette — a spirit must never speak first — 
so that the party must begin by demanding, in the name of the^ 
three persons of the Holy Trinity, who it is, and what is its. 
business, which it may be necessary to repeat three times ;. 
after which it will, in a low and hollow voice, declare it3 
satisfaction at being spoken to, and desiring the party not to- 
be afraid.. It then enters into its narrative, which being 
completed, it usually vanishes in a flash of light ; in which 
ease some ghosts have been so courteous as to desire the 
party to shut their eyes : sometimes its departure is attended 
with heavenly music. During the narration, a ghost must 
not be interrupted ; 

" List '. list! list I oh ! list !" 

is the injunction of Hamlet's father. Questions respecting 
their present state, or any of their former acquaintance, 
are seldom answered ; spirits being most probably restrained 
by certain rules and regulations, from divulging the secrets 
of their prison-house. 

Sometimes ghosts appear and disturb a house, without 
deigning to give any reason for so doing : with these, the 
shortest and only way is to exorcise them ; or, as the vulgar 
term is, lay them. For this purpose there must be two or 
three clergymen, and the ceremony must be performed in 
Latin, a language that strikes the most audacious ghost with 
terror. A ghost may be laid for any time less than a hun- 
R 2 



184 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

dred years, and in any place or body, full or empty — a solid 
oak — the pummel of a saddle — a bodkin — a barrel of beer, 
if yeoman or simple gentleman — or a pipe of wine, if an 
esquire, justice, or member of parliament. But of all places, 
the most common, and what a ghost least likes, is the Red 
Sea ; it has been related, in many instances, that ghosts have 
most earnestly besought the exorcists not to confine them in 
that abominable place. 

In cases of murder, a ghost, instead of going direct 
to a magistrate, or to the nearest relation of the person 
murdered, appears to some poor labourer, who knows 
none of the parties, draws the curtains of some old nurse, 
or alms-woman, or merely hovers round the place where the 
body is deposited. Another feature in their conduct is their 
fondness for low company and melancholy places ; they rarely 
■visit persons of fashion and education, or scenes of life and 
gaiety — their favourite associates are children, old women, 
and rustics — and old manor-houses, ruined castles, church- 
yards, and obscure villages, their places of resort. It would * 
be presumptuous to scrutinize the motives of such high per- 
sonages : they have, doubtless, forms and customs peculiar 
to themselves, although we are not at present acquainted 
with them. 

WITCHES. 
A witch is universally a poor, infirm, superannuated old 
woman, who, being in great distress, is tempted by a man 
clothed in a black coat or gown ; sometimes, also, as in 
Scotland, wearing a bluish band and hand-cuffs — a kind of 
turn-up linen sleeve : the sable gentleman promises, if she 
will sign a contract to become his, both soul and body, she 
shall want for nothing, and that he will revenge her upon all 
her enemies. The agreement being concluded, he gives her 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 185 

some trifling sum of money, from half a crown down to four- 
pence, to bind the bargain ; then cutting or pricking her 
finger, causes her to sign her name, or make a cross as her 
mark, with her blood, on a piece of parchment : what is the 
form of these contracts is nowhere mentioned. In addition 
to this signature, in Scotland, the devil made the witches put 
one hand to the sole of their foot, and the other to the crown 
of their head, signifying they were entirely his. In making 
these bargains, there is sometimes a great deal of haggling, 
as is instanced in the negotiation between Oliver Cromwell 
and the devil, before the battle of Worcester, related in 
Echard's History of England. Before the devil quits his 
new recruit, he delivers to her an imp or familiar, and some- 
times two or three ; they are of different shapes and forms, 
some resembling a cat, others a mole, a miller fly, or some 
other insect or animal : these are to come at her call, to do 
such mischief as she shall command, and, at stated times of 
the day, suck her blood, through teats, on different parts of 
her body. Feeding, suckling, or rewarding these imps, was, 
by law, declared felony. 

Sometimes a witch, in company with others of the sister- 
hood, is carried through the air on brooms or spits to distant 
meetings or sabbaths of witches ; but for this they must 
anoint themselves with a certain magical ointment given them 
by the devil. At these meetings they have feasting, music, 
and dancing, the devil himself sometimes condescending to 
play on the great fiddle, or on the pipe or cittern. When 
the meeting breaks up, they all have the honour of kissing 
Satan's posteriors, who, for that ceremony, usually assumes 
the form of a he-goat ; though in Scotland it was performed 
when he appeared in the human shape, with a bluish band 
and ruff. 

Witches show their spite by causing the object of it to 
r 3 



186 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

waste away in a long and painful disease, with a sensation of 
thorns stuck in the flesh : when a less fatal revenge will 
satisfy them, they make their victims swallow pins, old nails, 
dirt, and trash of all sorts, invisibly conveyed to them by 
their imps. Frequently they show their hate by drying cows 
and killing oxen : for slight offences they prevent butter 
from coming in the churn, or beer from working. To vex 
the squire, the parson, or justice, they transform themselves 
into the shape of a hare, and lead the hounds and huntsmen 
a long and fruitless chase. 

There are various tests for discovering a witch. One, 
by weighing her against the church Bible, which, if she is 
guilty, will preponderate : another, by making her say the 
Lord's Prayer, which no witch is able to do correctly. A 
witch cannot weep more than three tears, and that only out 
of the left eye : this want of tears was considered, even by 
some learned judges, as a decisive proof of guilt. Swim- 
ming them is the most infallible ordeal : strip them naked 
and cross bound, the right thumb to the left toe, and the 
left thumb to the right toe : thus prepared, throw them into 
a pond or river, in which, if guilty, they cannot sink; for 
having, by their compact with the devil, renounced the benefit 
of the water of baptism, that element renounces them, and 
refuses to receive them into his bosom. 

On meeting a witch, it is advisable to take the wall of her 
in a town or street, and the right hand of her in a lane or 
field ; and whilst passing her to clench both hands, doubling 
the thumb beneath the fingers : this will prevent her power 
at that time. It is well to salute a witch with civil words, 
on meeting her, before she speaks : do not receive any thing 
from her, but you may present her with a few halfpence 
without injury. 

Some persons, born under particular planets, have the 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 187 

power to distinguish witches at first sight. One of these 
' gifted individuals, named Matthew Hopkins, with John 
Stern and a woman, were, in 1644, permitted to explore the 
counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Huntingdon, with a commis- 
sion to discover witches, receiving twenty shillings from each 
town they visited. Many persons were pitched upon by 
them, and through their means convicted, till at length 
some gentlemen, out of indignation at Hopkins's barbarity, 
tied him in the manner he had bound others, thumbs and 
toes together ; in which state putting him in the water, he 
swam ! this cleared the country. 

A perusal of the famous statute of James I., will show 
that a belief of most of the facts above recited was not con- 
fined to the populace. By this act, any person convicted of 
witchcraft, or any of the practices I have mentioned, was 
sentenced to a year's imprisonment and pillory ; for the 
second offence, death. This memorable specimen of the 
philosophy of the age, was not repealed till the ninth year 
of the reign of George I. 

A SORCERER OR MAGICIAN. 
A sorcerer differs from a witch in this : a witch derives 
all her power from a compact with the devil ; a sorcerer 
commands him and the infernal spirits, by his skill in power- 
ful charms and invocations ; and also soothes and entices 
them by fumigations: for the devils are observed to have 
delicate nostrils, abominating and flying some kind of stmks; 
witness the flight of the evil spirit into the remote parts of 
Egypt, driven by the smell of a fish's liver, burned by Tobit. 
They are also found to be peculiarly fond of certain per- 
fumes ; insomuch that Lilly informs us, that one Evans 
having roused a spirit, at the request of lord Bothwell and 
sir Kenelm Digby, and forgetting a suffumigation, the spirit, 



188 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

vexed at the neglect, snatched him from his circle, and car- 
ried him from out his house in the Minories,into a field near 
Eattersea ! 

Sorcerers do not always employ their art to do mischief; 
but, on the contrary, frequently exert it to cure diseases 
inflicted by witches; to discover thieves; recover stolen 
goods; to foretel future events, and the state of absent 
friends. They raise spirits, and perform other secrets of 
their calling, by means of the circle, a beryl, a virgin, or 
a man who is a bachelor. — See the " Dsemonologia" of 
James I. 

FAIRIES 

Are a sort of intermediate beings between men and 
spirits, having bodies, with the power of rendering them invi- 
sible, and of passing through all sorts of enclosures. They 
are remarkably small of stature, with fair complexions, 
whence they obtained their name. Both male and female 
are generally clothed in green ; and frequent groves, moun- 
tains, the sunny side of hills, and green meadows, where they 
amuse themselves with dancing, hand in hand, in a circle, 
and by moon light. The traces of their feet are visible next 
morning on the grass, and commonly called Fairy Rings, or 
Circles. 

Fairies have all the passions and wants of men, but are 
great lovers of cleanliness and propriety ; for the observance 
of which, they frequently reward servants, by dropping 
money in their shoes : they likewise severely punish sluts and 
slovens by pinching them black and blue. They oft change 
their weakly and starveling elves or children, for the more 
robust offspring of men. But this can only be done before 
baptism, for which reason, it is still the custom in the High- 
lands to watch by the cradle of infants till they arc chris- 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS 189 

tened. The term Changeling, now applied to one almost an 
idiot, attests the current belief that prevailed of their muta- 
tions. 

Some fairies dwell in mines, and in Wales nothing is more 
common than these subterraneous spirits, called knockers, 
who good-naturedly point out where there is a rich vein of 
lead or silver. 

In Scotland there were a sort of domestic fairies, from 
their sun-burnt complexions called Brownies : these were 
extremely useful, performing occasionally all sorts of domestic 
drudgery. 

SECOND SIGHT. 

So called, from being a supplemental faculty added to that 
of common vision, whereby certain appearances, predictive 
of future events, present themselves suddenly before per- 
sons so gifted, without any desire on their part to see them. 
Some make this faculty hereditary in certain persons. It is 
a superstition confined to the Highlands of Scotland, the 
Western Isles, the Isle of Man, and some parts of Ireland. 

OMENS, CHARMS, AND DIVINATION. 

A screech-owl, flapping its wings against the windows 
of a sick person's chamber, or screeching at him, portends 
death. 

A coal, in the shape of a coffin, flying out of the fire to 
any particular person, denotes his death is not far off. A 
collection of tallow rising up against the wick of a candle, is 
styled a Winding-sheet, and usually deemed an omen of 
mortality. 

Any person fasting on Midsummer Eve, and sitting in the 
church porch, will, at midnight, see the spirits of the per- 
sons of the parish who will die that year, come and knock at 



190 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

the church door in the order and succession in which they 
will die. 

Any unmarried woman fasting on Midsummer Eve, and at 
midnight laying a clean cloth, with bread, cheese, and ale, 
and sitting down, as if going to eat— the street door being 
left open — the person whom she is afterwards to marry, will 
come into the room and drink to her by bowing, afterwards- 
fill the glass, make another bow, and retire. 

The same important fact may be ascertained another way : 
at the first appearance of the New Moon, next after New- 
Year's Day — though some say any other New Moon is as- 
good — go out in the evening,. and stand over the spars of a 
gate or stile; and, looking on the moon, repeat the following; 

lines : 

" All hail to the moon ! all hail to thee ! 
Ipr'ythee, good moon, reveal to me, 
This night, who my husband must be.'* 

Then go directly to bed. and you will dream of your future 
husband. 

A slice of the bride-cake, thrice drawn through the wed- 
ing ring, and laid under the head of an unmarried man or 
woman, will make them dream of their future wife or hus- 
band. 

To discover a thief, take a sieve and shears; stick the 
points of the shears in the wood of the sieve, and let two 
persons support it, balanced upright with their two fingers : 
then read a chapter in the Bible, and afterwards ask St. 
Peter and St. Paul if a certain person, naming all you sus- 
pect, is the thief. On naming the real thief, the sieve will 
turn suddenly round. — N.B. This receipt may be very use- 
ful at Bow Street, or the Old Bailey. 

A ring made of the hinge of a coffin is good for the 
cramp. 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 191 

A halter, with which a man has been hanged, if tied about 
the head, will cure the head-ache. 

Touching a dead body prevents dreaming of it. 

A stone, with a hole in it, hung at the bed's head, or two 
stones inside the bed, will prevent the nightmare : the for- 
mer also prevents witches riding horses, for which purpose 
it is often tied to the stable key. 

If a tree, of any kind, is split — and weak, ricketty, or 
ruptured children drawn through it, and afterwards the tree 
is bound together, so as to make it unite — as the tree heals 
and grows together, so will the child acquire strength. This 
is a very ancient and wide-spread piece of superstition. 
Creeping through tolmen, or perforated stones, was a 
Druidical ceremony, and at this day is practised in the East 
Indies. Mr. Borlace mentions a stone, in the parish of 
Morden, having a hole in it, fourteen inches diameter, 
through which many persons have crept for pains in their 
backs and limbs ; and many children have been drawn for 
the rickets, In some parts of the North, children are drawn 
through a hole cut in the groaning cheese, on the day they 
are christened. 

The wounds of a murdered person will bleed afresh, by 
sympathy, on the body being touched, ever so lightly, in any 
part by the murderer. 

When a person's cheek or ear burns, it is a sign that some 
one is then talking of him or her. If it is on the right side, 
the discourse is to their advantage ; if on the left, to the 
contrary. When the right eye itches, the party affected 
will shortly cry ; if the left, they will laugh. 

Abracadabra is a magical word ; and, written in a 
peculiar form, will cure an ague. 

It is customary for women to offer to sit cross-legged, to 
procure luck at cards for their friends. Sitting cross-legged, 



192 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

with the fingers interlaced, was anciently deemed a magical 
posture. 

It is deemed lucky to be born with a caul or membrane 
over the face. In France it is proverbial : etre ne coiffee, 
is an expression, signifying that a person is extremely fortu- 
nate. It is esteemed an infallible preservative against 
drowning, and under that idea, is frequently advertised for 
sale in the newspapers, and purchased by seamen. If bought 
by lawyers, it makes them as eloquent as Demosthenes or 
Cicero, and procures a great deal of practice. 

It is reckoned a good omen, if the sun shines on a couple 
coming out of the church after having been married. It is 
also esteemed a good sign if it rains whilst a corpse is 
burying. 

M Happy is the bride that the sun shines on; 
Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on." 

If in a family the youngest daughter should be married 
before her elder sisters, they must all dance at her wedding 
without shoes; this will counteract their ill-luck, and procure 
them husbands. 

If in eating you miss your mouth, and the victuals fall, it 
is very unlucky, and denotes sickness. 

When a person goes out to transact business, it is lucky 
to throw an old shoe after him. 

It is a common practice among the lower class of huck- 
sters, or dealers in fruit or fLh, on receiving the price of the 
first goods sold on that day, which they call hansel, to spit 
on the money for good luck; and boxers formerly used to 
spit in their hands, before they set-to, for luck's sake. 

Spilling of salt, crossing a knife and fork, or presenting a 
knife, scissors, or any sharp instrument, are all considered 
unlucky, and to be avoided. 

Washing hands in the same bason, or with the same water, 



POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 193 

as another person has washed in, is extremely unlucky, as 
the parties will infallibly quarrel. 

"Whistling at sea is supposed to cause an increase of wind, 
if not a storm, and, therefore, much disliked by seamen ; 
though sometimes they themselves practise it when there is 
a dead calm. 

The Hand of Glory is a foreign piece of superstition, com- 
mon in France, Germany, and Spain ; and is a charm used 
by housebreakers and assassins. It is the hand of a hanged 
man, holding a candle, made of the fat of a hanged man, 
virgin wax, and sisame of Lapland. It stupifies those to 
whom it is presented, and renders them motionless, insomuch 
that they could not stir, any more than if they were dead. 

A flake of soot hanging at the bars of the grate, denotes 
the visit of a stranger. A spark in the candle denotes that 
the person opposite to it will shortly receive a letter. 

In setting a hen, it is lucky to put an odd number of eggs. 
All sorts of remedies are directed to be taken — three, seven, 
or nine times. Salutes with cannon consist of an odd num- 
ber ; a royal salute is thrice seven, or twenty-one guns. 
Healths are always drank odd. Yet the number thirteen is 
deemed ominous ; it being held that when thirteen persons 
meet in a room, one of them will die within the year. 



*^* In concluding the article on Popular Superstitions, 
one cannot help adverting to the many advantages resulting 
to society from the discoveries of science. " If ignorance 
be bliss," it must be confessed it is a bliss not unalloyed 
with inconveniences, from which superior intelligence is 
exempted. Two of the greatest misfortunes of former times, 
were the absence of religious toleration, and the universal 
ignorance on the causes of natural phenomena : from the 
S 



194 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 

former flowed bloody wars, relentless persecutions, massa- 
cres, burnings, and torturings ; while the latter, if possible, 
was attended with still greater calamities — because more 
minutely diffused, and filling the minds of individuals of all 
ranks with indescribable terrors and apprehensions. 

If knowledge had only dispelled the single delusion re- 
specting spectral appearances, it would have conferred on 
mankind incalculable advantages. The dread of these mys- 
terious agents haunted men at home and abroad — by night 
and by day ; and the fear they had of the burglar or assas* 
sin, was infinitely less than that of some ghastly spectre at 
the lonely hour of midnight: 

" Gloster. Oh, Catesby, I have had such horrid dreams! 

Catesby, Shadows, my lord! — below the soldier's heeding. 

Gloster. Now, by my this day's hopes, shadows to-night 
Have struck more terror to the soul of llichard, 
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers 
Arrh'd all in proof. " Act y. Sc. 5. 

Such were the fears of one whose " firm nerves" were not 
easily shaken. Let us, then, rejoice that all the trumpery 
superstition of ghosts, witches, fairies, and omens, have gone 
to the " tomb of the Capulets ;" let us give honour, too, to 
the illustrious names — to the Bacons, Lockes, and Newtons, 
who have contributed to so blessed a consummation. Grown 
people, at least, are now divested of fear at the sight of an 
old woman ; they can pass through a lonely church-yard, a 
ruined tower, over a wild heath, or even sleep in an old 
manor-house — though the wind whistle ever so shrill — with- 
out fear of supernatural visitations ; and have become wise 
enough to trace private and public calamities to other causes 
than the crossing of knives, the click of an insect, or even 
the portentous advent of a comet ! 



w 



VULGAR ERRORS. 



Popular superstitions may be ranked among Vulgar 
Errors, and might have been included under that head ; but, 
for greater distinction, I shall class those mistaken notions 
which either do now, or did formerly, circulate among the 
common people, under a separate article. 

The wonderful discoveries of science in the last century 
have greatly augmented the list of vulgar errors, by proving 
many facts, which even the learned of a former age believed 
true, entirely unfounded. In the Works of sir Thomas 
Browne, published in 1686, there is an inquiry into common 
and vulgar errors, in which the writer displays great learn- 
ing and ingenuity ; yet, so partial is the enlightenment of the 
author, that he entertains the popular notion that lights burn 
blue in the presence of apparitions, and gravely attempts to 
explain the fact on philosophical principles ! What a Host 
of learned errors have been put to flight, almost in the me- 
mory of the present age, in the two sciences of chemistry 
and political economy ! It was formerly believed that crys- 
tals were only ice or snow strongly congealed ; that the flesh 
of the peacock never putrefied ; that water was an elemen- 
tary fluid, and rose in the common pump from the horror 
Nature had. of a vacuum. The truths of political economy 
are still too much contested for us to be able to determine 
the facts we ought to include among the errors of that science ; 
but I think we may reckon as such all that relate to the 
a 2 



196 LEGAL ERRORS. 

bounties and prohibitions of the commercial system, the in- 
fluence of rent, tithe, and wages on the prices of commo- 
dities, and the effect of taxation on public happiness. In 
politics, too, one might enumerate a long list of errors which 
were formerly current, but which are now struggling for 
existence — such as, that the poor-rate originated in the 43rd 
of Elizabeth ; that the land-tax and funding system com- 
menced at the Revolution in 1688 ; that Mr. Pitt was the 
author of the sinking fund ; that the miraculous powers of 
borrowed money and compound interest would liquidate the 
national debt ; and that the French revolution was caused 
by the extravagant writings of Rousseau, Helvetius, and & 
few other theorists. It is not, however, intended in this 
place to give an account of the " follies of the wise," but 
of the ignorant, so as to complete the picture of the intelli- 
gence and manners of an antecedent state of society. 

LEGAL ERRORS. 
It is an error that a surgeon or butcher may be challenged 
as jurors, from the supposed cruelty of their business. 

It is erroneously supposed to be penal to open a coal-mine* 
or to kill a crow within five miles of London : this last pro- 
bably took its rise from a statute of Henry VII. prohibiting 
the use of a cross-bow. 

It is an error that the king signs the death-warrant, as it 
is called, for the execution of a criminal ; as also, that there 
is a statute which obliges the owners of asses to crop their 
ears, lest the length of them should frighten the horses they 
meet on the road. 

It is a common error that those born at sea belong to 
Stepney parish. It is an error, too, that when a man desires 
to marry a woman who is in debt, if he take her from the 



ERRORS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 197 

hands of the minister, clothed only in her chemise, that he 
will not be liable to her engagements. 

It is an error that the body of a debtor may be taken in 
execution after his death ; which, however, was practised 
in Prussia before Frederic the Second abolished it by the 
Code Frederique. 

For a person to disinherit his son, it is not necessary he 
should leave him a shilling in his will. 

ERRORS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 
It is an error, that the scorpion stings itself when sur- 
rounded by fire, and that music has power over persons 
bitten by it ; that the mole has no eyes; that the hedge-hog 
is a mischievous animal, and suek& cows when they are asleep. 

It is said the porcupine shoots out its quills for annoying 
its enemy, whereas it only sheds them annually, as other 
feathered animals do. The jackall is commonly called the 
lion's provider, but it has no connexion with the lion. 

The ass was vulgarly thought to have had a cross on its 
back ever since Christ rode on one of those animals. It 
was also believed the haddock had the mark of St. Peter's 
thumb, ever since St. Peter took the tribute penny out of a 
fish of that species. 

It was anciently believed, says Brand, that the barnacle, a 
common shell-fish, which is found sticking on the bottom of 
ships, would, when broken otF, become a species of goose. 

" The Rose of Jericho" which was feigned to flourish 
every year about Christmas Eve, is famous in the annals of 
credulity : but, like the no less celebrated c< Glastonbury 
Thorn" is only a monkish imposture. 

It is commonly believed, and even pr^erbial, that puppies 
s 3 



198 PICTORIAL ERRORS— ERRORS ON MAN. 

see in nine days, but the fact is, they do not see till the 
twelfth or fourteenth. 

PICTORIAL ERRORS. 

The common practice of exhibiting St. George killing a 
dragon, with a king's daughter standing by, is a vulgar error, 
for which there is no authority. 

That the forbidden fruit, mentioned in Genesis, was an 
apple, is generally believed, confirmed by tradition, perpe- 
tuated by writing, verses, and pictures, but without authority. 

The same writer also remarks, the common practice of 
picturing Moses with horns on his head, for which there is 
no authority — and it does not appear he was ever married. 

ERRORS ON MAN. 

It is commonly believed, that men float on the ninth day 
after submersion in the water ; but the time is uncertain, and 
depends on the habit of body : fat men undergo a chemical 
change much sooner than lean men, and consequently float 
sooner. The analogy does not hold, that men naturally 
swim like other animals ; the motion of animals in the water 
is the same as on land ; but men do not swim as they walk. 
It is more correct that women, when drowned, lay prostrate 
in the water, and men supine ; it arises from the different 
conformation of the two sexes. 

That a man has one rib less than a woman is a vulgar 
error : both men and women have twenty-four ribs. 

It was an opinion formerly, that it was conducive to a 
man's health to be drunk once a month. 

The age of G3 was called the " great climacteric," and 



HISTORICAL ERRORS. 199 

considered peculiarly dangerous, because it was the product 
of the two odd numbers 7 and 9. 

That a man weighs more fasting than full ; that he was 
anciently larger in stature ; that love and lust are the same 
thing ; that he is better or worse for being of a particular 
profession ; have been classed by writers among vulgar 
errors. 

HISTORICAL ERRORS. 

Sir Thomas Browne says, it is an error, that Tamerlane, 
the Tartar, was a shepherd ; he was of noble birth. The 
popular story, that Belisarius was blind, and begged pub- 
licly in the streets, is without foundation : he suffered much 
from the envy of the court, but contemporary writers do 
not mention his mendicity nor blindness. The stories of 
Scaevola, of Curtius, of the Amazons, and of Archimedes 
burning the ships of Marcellus, are, doubtless, historical lies 
or monstrous exaggerations. 

Many vulgar errors prevail respecting gypsies, and coun- 
terfeit Moors. They are said to have come originally from 
Egypt, and their present state to be a judgment of God upon 
them, for refusing to entertain the Virgin Mary and Jesus, 
on their flight into Egypt. They existed in Egypt long be- 
fore this occurrence, where they were considered strangers. 
They were called Bohemians in France, where they first ap- 
peared from Germany, and spoke the Sclavonian language. 
They were at one time countenanced by the Turks ; suffered 
to keep stews in the suburbs of Constantinople, and em- 
ployed by them as spies among other nations, for which they 
were banished by the emperor Charles the Fifth. 



200 



MISCELLANEOUS ERRORS. 

From the rising of the Dog star, the ancients computed 
their canicular days ; concerning which there is an opinion, 
that during those days ail physic should be declined, and the 
cure/committed to nature : this season is called the Physi- 
cian's vacation. 

It was formerly believed, that the tenth wave was more 
dangerous, and the tenth egg larger than any other. 

The ring was formerly worn on the fourth finger of the 
left hand, from a supposition that a particular nerve in that 
part communicated with the heart. 

Fovargue includes in his " Catalogue of Vulgar Errors," 
the notion of Londoners, that they have wit enough to im- 
pose on countrymen. " This error," says he, " chiefly pro- 
ceeds from the outward appearance of countrymen, when, 
they arrive at the metropolis. They are struck with the 
grandeur of the place, and on that account keep their heads 
up in the air, as if they were contemplating some pheno- 
menon in the heavens. Then, their clothes being calculated! 
for strength and wear, or spun thick, which gives them a 
stiff awkward gait, and this is not a little augmented by the 
robust labour they daily undergo." 

The same author also reckons among vulgar errors, that 
the Italian Opera consists of effeminate music; that nothing 
is poetry but what is in rhyme ; that kicking up the heels 
behind, and twisting round on one leg, is fine skating ; that 
the more ammunition is put into a fowling-piece, the more 
execution it will do ; and that using hard words and long 
sentences is a proof of scholarship. 



201 



SELECT SAYINGS AND MAXIMS 



ANCIENTS AND FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 



ANGER. 
Mildness governs more than anger. — Puhlius Syrus. 
No man is free who does not command himself. — Pythagoras. 
He who cannot command himself, it is folly to think to •; 

command others. — Laberius. 
He injures the absent who contends with an angry man. — 

Publius Syrus. 
An angry man is again angry with himself, when he returns 

to reason. — Publius Syrus. 
Women are sooner angry than men, the sick than the 

healthy, and old men than young men. — Hermes. 
He overcomes a stout enemy, that overcomes his own anger. 

— Chile 
He best keeps from anger, who remembers that God is always 

looking upon him. — Plato. 

An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes. — Cato. 
The anger of a good man is the hardest to bear. — Publius 
Syrus. 

ANCESTORS. 

What can the virtues of our ancestors profit us, if we do not 
imitate them? 

Great merits ask great rewards, and great ancestors virtuous 
issues. 



202 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 

To be of noble parentage, and not to be endowed with noble 
qualities, is rather a defamation than a glory. 



MANNERS. 

Be not too brief in conversation, lest you be not understood ; 

nor too diffuse, lest you be troublesome. — Protagoras. 
We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts 

us ; for a madman is not cured by another running mad 

also. — Antisthenes. 
To a man full of questions make no answer at all. — Plato. 
Such as give ear to slanderers are worse than slanderers 

themselves. — Domitian. 
He conquers twice who conquershimself in victory. — Fublius 

Syrus. 

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of 

silver. — Solomon. 
He is well constituted who grieves not for what he has not, 

and rejoices for what he has. — Democritus. 
Impose not a burden on others, which thou cannot bear thy- 

sel f. — L uberius. 
A cheerful manner commonly denotes a gentle nature ; 

whereas, a sour countenance is a manifest sign of a fro- 

ward disposition. — Anon. 
Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come. — 

Aristotle. 
Such as are careless of themselves can hardly be mindful of 

others. — Thales. 
Sobriety without sullenness is commendable^and mirth with 

modesty delectable. 
Nothing is more hard to- honest people, than to be denied 

the liberty of speaking their minds. 
What one knows, it is useful sometimes to forget. — Publius 

Syrus. 

There are more mockers than weil-meaners, and more foolish 

quips than good precepts. 
Deride not the unfortunate. — Chilo. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 203 

In conversation, avoid the extremes of petulance and reserve. 

— Cato. 
"Where the demand i3 a jest, the fittest answer is a scoff. — 

Archimedes, 
Aristotle says, when you can have any good thing, take it : 

and Plato says, if you do not take it, you are a great cox- 
comb. 
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine ; but a broken 

spirit drieth the bones. — Solomon. 
They that slander the dead are like envious dogs, that bark 

and bite at bones. — Zeno. 
Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue ; 

to the end, we should hear and see more than we speak. — 

Socrates. 
iCeep thy tongue, and keep thy friend ; for few words cover 

much wisdom, and a fool being silent is thought wise. 
Proud looks lose hearts, but courteous words win them. — 

Ferdin. 

He that knows how to speak, knows also when to be silent. 

— Archimedes. 
To expose one's self to great dangers for trivial advantages, 

is to fish with a golden hook, where more may be lost than 

gained. — Augustus Ccesar. 
We ought either to be silent, or to speak things that are 

better than silence. — Pythagoras. 

EATING AND DRINKING. 

Wine has drowned more than the sea. — Publius Syrus. 

The belly is an unthankful beast, never requiting the plea- 
sure done, but continually craving more than it needs. — 
Crates. 

The wicked man lives to eat and drink, but the good eats and 

drinks to live. — Plutarch. 
The belly is the commanding part of the body. — Homer. 
The first draught a man drinks ought to be for thirst, the 

second for nourishment, the third for pleasure, and the 

fourth for madness. — Anacharsis. 



204 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND' 

Excess came from Asia to Rome : Ambition came from Rome 

to all the world. 
Drunkenness is a bewitching devil, a pleasant poison, and 

a sweet sin. — Augustine. 
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox 

and hatred therewith. — Solomon. 



ELOQUENCE. 

Brevity is a great praise of eloquence. — Cicero. 

Orators are most vehement when they have the weakest 

cause, as men get on horseback when they cannot walk. — 

Cicero. 
It is easy to defend the innocent ; but who is eloquent enough 

to defend the guilty ? — Publius Syrus. 
An orator without judgment is a horse without a bridle — 

Theophrastus. 
As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the 

mind is eloquence. — Cicero. 
As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or 

not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they 

be wise or foolish. — Demosthenes. 
Eloquence is of two kinds ; that of the heart, which is called 

divine ; the other external, and merely the organ of con- 
ceits, thoughts, and sophistry. — Cicero. 
Unprofitable eloquence is like the cypress, which is great 

and tall, but bears no fruit. — Anon. 
Poets are born, but orators are made. — Anon. 

FRIENDSHIP. 

Friendship is stronger than kindred. — Publius Syrus. 

Reprove thy friend privately ; commend him publicly. 

Solon. 

Go slowly to the entertainments of thy friends, but quickly 
to their misfortunes. — Chilo. 

It is no small grief to a good nature to try his friends. — 
Euripides. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 205 

It is better to decide a difference between enemies than 
friends ; for one of our friends will certainly become an 
enemy, and one of our enemies a friend. — Bias. 

FOLLY. 

It is much better for a man to conceal his folly and ignorance 

than to discover the same. 
There can be no greater folly in man, than by much labour 

to increase his goods, and with vain pleasure to lose his 

soul — Gregory. 
There is more hope of a fool, than of him that is wise in his 

own conceit. — Solomon, 
It is great folly for a man to muse much on such things as 

pass his understanding. 
The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise 

man is in his heart. — Sirach. 



INDUSTRY. 

Learn some useful art, so that you may be independent of 

the caprice of fortune. — Cato. 
Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man. — Ansehn. 
It is not for a man in authority to sleep a whole night. — 

Homer. 

Flee sloth ; for the indolence of the soul is the decay of the 

body. — Cato. 
When a man goes out, let him consider what he is to do ; 

when he returns, what he has done. — Cleobulus. 
The three things most difficult are — to keep a secret, to 

forget an injury, and to make good use of labour. — Chilo. 
Prosperity engenders sloth. — Livy. 

JUSTICE. 

Valour would cease to be a virtue, if there were no injus- 
tice. — Agesilaus. 
Delay in punishment is no privilege of pardon. 

T 



206 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 

Not the pain, but the cause, make9 the martyr. — Ambrose. 
It becomes not the law-maker to be a law-breaker. — Bias. 
Four things belong to a judge ; to hear courteously, to answer 

wisely, to consider soberly, and to give judgment without 

partiality. — Socrates. 
No man may be both accuser and judge. — Plutarch. 
The accused is not guilty till he is convicted. — Lactantius. 

KINGS AND LAWS. 

General calamities imply, in kings, general imbecility. 
Kings ought to be environed with good-will, instead of 

guards. — Bias. 
It is the fault of princes if they are not esteemed, as they 

always have it in their power to procure the love of their 

subjects. — Philip of Macedon. 
The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion, but his favour 

is as the dew on the grass. — Solomon. 
The prince that is feared of many must, of necessity, fear 

many. 
A king ruleth as he ought, a tyrant as he lists ; a king to the 

profit of all, a tyrant only to please a few. — Aristotle. 
Kings ought to shun the company of the vicious, for the evil 

they commit in his company is accounted his. — Plato. 
It little profits a prince to be ruler of many kingdoms, and 

the slave of many vices. 
A king ought to take good heed to his counsellors, in noting 

who soothe his lusts, and who intend the public profit. — 

Plutarch. 
"Where the love of the people is assured, the designs of the 
• seditious are thwarted. — Bias. 
A good prince is not the object of fear. — Diogenes. 
A prince ought to be aware not only of his enemies, but his 

flattering friends. — Dionysius. 
The public has more interest in the punishment of an injury, 

than he who receives it. — Cato the Elder. 
As ignorant governors bring their country into many incon- 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 207 

veniences, so such as are devilishly politic utterly over- 
throw the state. — Anon. 

Justice ought to be the rule to the will of kings. — Antigonus. 

Laws not executed are of no value, and as well not made as 
not practised. 

To make an empire durable, the magistrates must obey the 
laws, and the people the magistrates. — Solon. 

Laws are not made for the good. — Socrates. 

Kings ought to be kings in all things. — Adrian. 

lioyalty consists not in vain pomp, but in great virtues. — 
Agesilaus. 

LIFE AND DEATH. 

An honourable death is better than an inglorious life. — 

Socrates. 
He who fears death has already lost the life he covets. — 

Cato. 
No man is so old but thinks he may yet live another year. — 

Hieronimus. 
We should live as though our life would be both long and 

short. — Bias. 
We had better die at once, than to live constantly in fear of 

death. — Dion. 
Life is short, yet sweet. — Euripides. 



LOVE. 

To love and be wise, is scarcely possible to a god. — Publius 

Syrus. 
A lover's soul lives in the body of his mistress. — Plutarch. 
Love heats the brain, and anger makes a poet. — Juvenal. 
A man has choice to begin love, but not to end it. 
True love is never idle, but worketh to serve him whom he 

loveth. — Augustine, 

An incensed lover shuts his eyes, and tells himself many lies. 
— Publius Syius. 

T 2 



208 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 

Love is incompatible with fear — Publius Syrus. 

The approaches of love must be resisted at the first assault, 
lest they undermine at the second, — Pythagoras. 

Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lov*r endureth his tor- 
ments willingly. — Niphas. 

Sophocles, being asked what injury he would wish to his 
enemy, replied, "that he might love where he was not 
loved again." 

Love teaches music, though a man be unskilful. — Anon. 



RICHES AND POVERTY. 

Prefer loss to unjust gain. 

Fortune gives to many too much, but to none enough. — 

Laberiiis. 
Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine 

and thine } were taken away. — Anaxagoras. 
It is a rare miracle for money to lack a master. — Bias. 
Need teaches things unlawful. — Seneca. 
He who lives after nature, shall never be poor ; after 

opinion, shall never be rich. — Seneca. 
Praise not the unworthy on account of their wealth. — Bias. 
He is truly rich, who desires nothing ; and he is truly poor, 

who covets all Solon. 

Men are neither suddenly rich nor suddenly good. — Liberius. 
If rich, be not elated; if poor, be not dejected. — Socrates. 
If thou knowest how to use money, it will become thy 

hand-maid ; if not, it will become thy master. — Diodorus. 
He is richest who is contented with least; for content is the 

wealth of a nation. 

PUBLIC OFFICERS. 

Men in authority are eyes in a state, according to whose life 

every man applieth his manner of living. 
The most useful wisdom is — when public ollicers practise 

what philosophers teach. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 209 

The buyers of offices sell by retail what they buy in gross. 

Where offices are vendible, there the best-monied block- 
head bears the greatest sway. 

Those who sell offices sell the most sacred things in the 
world, even justice itself, public prosperity, the people 
and the laws. 

TRUTH. 

Custom, though ever so ancient, without truth, is but an old 

error. — Cyprian. 
If thou speakest what thou wilt, thou shalt hear what thou 

would not.— Bias. 
He who conceals an useful truth, is equally guilty with the 

propagator of an injurious falsehood. — Augustine. 
Good men are sometimes in greater danger from speaking 

the truth, than evil men from speaking falsely. — Plautus. 

TIME. 

Nothing is more precious than time, yet nothing less valued. 
— Bernard. 

No grief is so acute but time ameliorates it. — Cicero. 

Things past may be repented, but not recalled. — Livy. 

A philosopher being asked— what was the first thing neces- 
sary to win the love of a woman, answered — opportunity. 

Time is the herald of truth. — Cicero. 

VIRTUE. 

It is difficult to persuade mankind that the love of virtue is 
the love of themselves. — Cicero. 

Some, by admiring other men's virtues, become enemies to 
their own vices. 

The remembrance of a well-spent life is sweet. 
Praise is the hire of virtue. — Cicero. 

In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it ia 
our duty. — Augustine. 

T 3 



210 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 

What you would not have done to yourselves, never do to 

others. — Alexander Severus. 
One ought to remember kindnesses received, and forget those 

we have done. — Chilo. 
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the 

tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.— Solomon, 

Do good to your friend, that he may be more wholly yours ; 
to your enemy, that he may become your friend. — Cleo- 
bulus. 

Such as have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it 
in practice, are like a harp, whieh emits a sound pleasing 
to others, while itself is insensible of the music. — Dio- 
genes. 

A good man cares not for the reproofs of evil men. — Demo- 
critus. 

Every thing great is not always good, but all good things 
are great. — Demosthenes. 

Covet nothing over much. — Chilo. 

A soul conversant with virtue, resembles a fountain ; for it 
is clear, and gentle, and sweet, and communicative, and 
rich, and harmless, and innocent. — Epictetus. 

Satan is a subtle angler, and uses great cunning in the cast- 
ing of his net, and searching out the vein of water where 
every one is delighted. — Basil. 

In childhood be modest, in youth temperate, in manhood 
just, in old age prudent. — Socrates. 

lie that helps the wicked, hurts the good. — Crates. 

What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth 
and justice. — Demosthenes. 

Diversity of religion is the ground of persecution, in show ; 
but it is ambition, in effect. 

The end of a dissolute life is, commonly, a desperate death. 
— Bion. 

Virtue maketh men on the earth famous, in their graves 
illustrious, in the heavens immortal. — Chilo. 

He that works wickedness by another, is "guilty of the fact 
committed himself. — Bias, 



Fathers of the church. 2H 

Nothing is profitable which is dishonest. — Cicero. 

A work well begun is half ended. — Plato. 

"We should never remember the benefits we have conferred, 

nor forget the favours received. — Chilo. 
The eye strays not while under the guidance of reason. — 

Publius Syrus. 
If you pursue good with labour, the labour passes away and 

the good remains; but if you pursue pleasure with evil, 

the pleasure passes away and the evil remains. — Cicero. 
The judge must be condemned, when he absolves the guilty. 

— Pablias Syrus. 
Every vice has a cloak, and creeps in under the name of a 

virtue. 
Ingenuous shame,, once lost, is never regained. — Publius 

Syrus. 
By others' vices, wise men amend their own. — Ibid. 
Trust no secrets to a friend which, if reported, would bring 

infamy. — Thales. 
We cannot control the tongues of others, but a good life 

enables us to despise calumnies. — D. Cato. 
The vicious obey their passions, as slaves do their masters. 

Diogenes. 

Wicked men cannot be friends, either among themselves or 

with the good. — Socrates. 
Virtue, though momentarily shamed, cannot be extinguished. 

Publius Syrus. 
Every one should make the case of the injured his own 

Solon. 
The way to make ourselves admired, is to be what w r e affect 

to be thought. — Socrates. 
Virtue, and not the laws and ordinances of men, is the rule 

of a wise man. — Antisthenes. 
Successful guilt is the bane of society — Publius Syrus. 
No one ever lost his honour, except he who had it not. — 

Publius Syrus. 

Vice is the most dangerous, when it puts on the semblance 
of virtue. — Ibid, 



212 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, AND 

WISDOM. 

Ignorant men differ from beasts only in their fires. — 
C leant he s. 

It is less pain to learn in youth, than to be ignorant in age. 
— Solon. 

Wisdom provides things necessary, not superfluous. — Solon. 

A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone. — 
Ambrose. 

He must be a wise man himself, who is capable of distin- 
guishing one. — Diogenes. 

Wisdom adorns riches, and shadows poverty. — Socrates. 

Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adver- 
sity, and the best provision in old age. — Aristotle. 

They who educate children well, are more to be honoured, 
than they who produce them ; for these only gave them 
life, those the art of living well. — Aristotle. 

It is no shame for a man to learn that he knoweth not, what- 
ever age he may be. — Isocrates. 

To know, and not be able to perform, is doubly unfortunate. 
— Solon. 

He is sufficiently well learned, that knows how to do well, 
and has power enough to refrain from evil. — Cicero. 

Arrogance is the obstruction of wisdom. 

One part of knowledge consists in being ignorant of such 
things as are not worthy to be known. — Crates. 

Wise men, though all laws were abolished, would lead the 
same lives. — Aristophanes. 

Knowledge, without education, is but armed injustice. — 
Horace. 

It is better to be unborn than untaught ; for ignorance is the 
root of misfortune. — Plato. 

Wise men are instructed by reason ; men of less understand- 
ing by experience; the most ignorant by necessity; and 
beasts by nature. — Cicero. 

Aristippus being asked what he learnt by philosophy, re- 
plied, M he learnt to live well with all the world." 



ATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 



213 



WOMEN. 

A beautiful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship 
of God, the true glory of angels, the rare miracle of the 
earth, and sole wonder of the world. — Hermes. 

As no man can tell where a shoe pincheth better than he 
that wears it, so no man can tell a woman's disposition 
better than he that hath wedded her.— Marcus Aurelius. 

Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. — Solomon. 

Woman either loves or hates ; her affections know no me- 
dium. — Publius Syras. 

It is a blind man's question to ask, why those things are 
loved which are beautiful. 

Women that paint themselves to seem beautiful, do clearly 
deface the image of their Creator. — Ambrose. 

Marriage, with peace, is the world's paradise; with strife, 
this life's purgatory. 

The Grecian ladies counted their age from their marriage, 
not their birth. — Homer. 

As a jewel of gold in a hog's snout, so is a fair woman with- 
out virtue. — Solomon. 



MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS. 

As we must render an account of every idle word, so must 
we likewise of our idle silence. — Ambrose. 

A filthy subject defrauds Poetry of her due praise. 

Advise not what is most pleasant, but what is most useful. 
— Solon. 

Actions measured by time, seldom prove bitter by repentance. 

" As I am Antonius," said the emperor,*' Rome is my city 
and my country ; but, as I am a man, the world." 

Adultery desires no procreation^ but pleasure. — Anselm. 

As sight in the eye, so is the mind in the soul. — Sophocles. 

A stranger, if just, is not only to be preferred before a coun- 
tryman, but a kinsman. — Pythagoras. 



214 MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS. 

Be always at leisure to do good ; never make business an 

excuse to decline the offices of humanity. — M. Aurelius. 
Bear, and blame not, what you cannot change. — Publius 

Syrus. 

Charity is the scope of all God's commands Chrysostcme. 

Cato said " he had rather people should inquire why he had 

not a statue erected to his memory, than why he had." 
Christ's coat, indeed, had no seam, but the church's vesture 

is of divers colours. — Ambrose. 
Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but in being 

resolutely minded in a just cause. — Plutarch. 
Conscience is the chamber of justice. — Origen. 
Divinity cannot be defined. — Politeuphia. 
Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds. — Socrates. 
Fortune has no power over discretion. — Solon. 
Flattery is like friendship in sho'v, but not in fruit.—. 

Socrates. 
Fortitude is the mean between fear and rashness. 

Fortune dreads the brave, and is only terrible to the coward. 
— Seneca. 

He who fears his servants is less than a servant. — Publius 
Syrus. 

He is a worthless being who lives only for himself. — Ibid. 

He denies himself, who asks what it is impossible to grant. 
— Ibid. 

He threatens many Who injures one. — Ibid. 

He is doubly sinful who congratulates a successful knave. — 
Ibid. 

However wretched a fellow mortal may be, he is still a mem- 
ber of our common species. — Seneca. 

Hope is a working man's dream. — Pliny. 

It is as hard for the good to suspect evil, as it is for the bad 
to suspect good.— Cicero. 

It is difficult keeping that which is admired by many. — 

Publius Syrus. 

It is a fraud to borrow what we are not able to repay. — Ibid. 



MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS. 215 

It is cruelty to the innocent not to punish the guilty. — Pub- 

Hits Syrus. 
Know thyself.— Chilo. 

Labour is a mortal enemy to love, and a deadly foe to fancy. 
Light cares speak, great ones are dumb. — Seneca. 
Memory tempers prosperity, mitigates adversity, controls 

youth, and delights old age. — Lactantius. 
Moderate honours are wont to augment, but immoderate to 

diminish. — Theopompus. 
Necessity makes war to be just. — Bias. 
Nothing is more easy than to deceive one's self, as our affec- 
tions are subtle persuaders. — Demosthenes. 
One should make a serious study of a pastime. — Alexander 

the Great. 
Opinion is the great pillar which upholds the Commonwealth. 

— Portanus. 
Prosperity makes friends, and adversity tries them. — 

Pacuvius. 
Patience is so like fortitude, that she seems either her sister 

or her daughter. — Aristotle. 
Patience under old injuries invites new ones. — Publius Syrus. 
Pardon others often, thyself never.*— Ibid. 
Regard not dreams, since they are but the images of our 

hopes and fears. — Cato. 

Remove not the ancient land-marks which thy fathers have 
set. — Solomon. 

Suspect the meaning, and regard not speeches.— Socrates. 
Speech is the gift of all, but thought of few. — D. Cato. 
Sudden movements of the mind often break out either for 

great good or great evil. — Homer. 
Success consecrates the foulest crimes. — Seneca. 
Shame may restrain what the law does not prohibit. — Ibid. 

So live and hope as if thou would'st die immediately. — 
Pliny. 

To prescribe physic for the dead, and advice to the old, is 
the same thing, — Diogenes. 



216 MISCELLANEOUS MAXIMS. 

To be commended by those who might blame without fear. 

gives great pleasures. — Agesilaus. 
Two things ought to be the object of our fear, the envy of 

friends, and the hatred of enemies. — Bias. 
The most delightful pleasures cloy without variety. — Pub- 

lius Syrus. 

The miseries of the virtuous are the scandal of the good. — 

Ibid. 
The world is a great book, of which they that never stir 

from home read only a page. — Augustine. 
The praise of a wise man is worth a whole theatre of others. 

— Pittacus. 
The remembrance of past calamities is painful. — Publius 

Syrus. 
The useful and the beautiful are never apart. — Periander. 
There can be no affinity nearer than our country. — Plato. 
The way of a fool is right — in his own eyes. — Solomon. 
War is the sink of all injustice. 
We ought not to forget that our slaves are our fellow men, 

— D. Cato. 
We lessen our wants by lessening our desires. — Laberius. 
We ought to weigh well, what we can only once decide. — 

Publius Syrus. 
Without danger, danger cannot be surmounted. — Ibid. 
Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools. — Socrates. 
Wisdom prefers an unjust peace to a just war. 
When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe 

them. — Plato. 



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